Biography: Rustem Zharaskanovich Abdrashov (Kazakh: Рүстем Жарасқанұлы Әбдірашев; 2 February 1970; Alma-Ata) is a Kazakh film director, screenwriter, art director and actor. He was born in 1970 in Alma-Ata in the family of the famous Kazakh poet Zharaskan Abdrashev. Mother, Nazigul Nurgalievna Mergenbayeva is a philologist, teacher, teacher of the Kazakh language. In 2004, the year "Rebirth Island" was released, the director's first full—length feature film based on the poetry of Zharaskan Abdrashev, which received international recognition and was awarded various prizes at film festivals around the world.