His films have been shown all over the world and he is especially popular in Albania, where they were among the few western films allowed to be shown during the Stalinist regime of Enver Hoxha.

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At last year's Karlovy Vary film festival, the Czech spa town hosted a two-day seminar on Kazakh films which reignited western appreciation.

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The Chinese market is large enough that films made there don't need Western appeal to make big money.

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But early films weren't especially accessible to Western audiences.

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While Jacir's films gained theatrical releases in a number of western countries, she also wanted to share them with Jordanian and Palestinian move-goers.

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