00:00Comic-Con Astana, Central Asia's largest pop culture festival, has returned to Kazakhstan's capital,
00:06bringing together international actors, cosplay enthusiasts, gamers and artists.
00:11But the real stars of the festival are the cosplayers, whose elaborate costumes stop visitors in their tracks.
00:17The international cosplay contest brings together 180 contestants from more than 20 countries,
00:23competing for a record-priced pool of around 37,000 euros.
00:27But for hundreds of other fans, the festival's amateur competitions offer a chance to bring their favorite characters to life.
00:35I have a face of Granata from the universe of Steven.
00:38I really like this character. It's one of my favorite connections.
00:42It's about accepting yourself and love to yourself.
00:47My costume, with an incredible attraction from Giorgio, I really liked this character,
00:53because it was my first anime that I watched.
00:57And why did I choose this cosplay? Because it really liked me.
01:02I saw pictures on the internet and thought, why would I not do it?
01:06I have time, I have money.
01:08The festival is also becoming a platform for original Kazakh creations.
01:13Last year, cosplayer Arujan Janussova introduced Tungrida, a futuristic heroine inspired by Kazakh culture.
01:19One year later, the character has grown into Tungrida Cyberstep, an AI-assisted animated universe.
01:25The idea of creating a whole universe of Tungrida was born in the last year at Comic-Con,
01:30because it was very pleasant to see the reaction of people, the reaction of the audience,
01:34and I wanted to make something bigger and bigger.
01:38Comic-Con Astana offers much more than cosplay competitions.
01:42Throughout the four-day festival, visitors can enjoy gaming tournaments, workshops, live performances and fan-meeting greets.
01:49This year's line-up also features several international headliners, including Danish actor Nikolai Koster-Waldau,
01:56who reflected on the lasting impact of Game of Thrones.
01:59Obviously, the whole experience of working on the show for ten years,
02:03and also the impact the show had on pop culture, I learned a lot from that experience.
02:13It taught me a lot of lessons.
02:14The actual character of Jamie Lannister, it was a beautifully written part.
02:20I got a movie called The Last Mrs. Parrish, that is coming out at the end of the year on
02:25Netflix,
02:26that I was very lucky to do with the director Robert Zemeckis and Jennifer Lopez,
02:32and it was just a fun, fun movie.
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