Ulanbek Asanaliev, Radio Azattyk

Ulanbek Asanaliev is a TV producer, cameraman, and photographer for RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service, known locally as Radio Azattyk. He has won international awards for his work, including a silver medal from the New York TV & Film Festival in 2017 for his story about a teacher who wakes up every day before dawn and rides his horse across the rugged terrain of northern Kyrgyzstan to teach his class. His documentary Victims Of Migration, shot in Yekaterinburg, Russia, won a special prize at the One World-Kyrgyzstan Film Festival in 2016. Ulanbek told RFE/RL Pressroom that he stumbled upon photography almost by accident while at school, and since then has not parted with his camera for 15 years.