First held in 2018, Sky Cinema has become KIMEP Geeks’ signature event, staged once every semester, club president Zhaniya Koshen said.
“We’ve hosted Sky Cinema on KIMEP’s football field since 2018. It’s our main event, usually once a semester — either before or after midterms,” Koshen said.
She added that the idea came from Dinmukhamed Niyazov, founder of the “new” Geeks, after the original group disbanded in 2013.
“He wanted to create a cozy, family-friendly outdoor event, different from the parties that were the only option back then,” Koshen said.
This semester’s film was Wes Anderson’s “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” which was selected because university rules prohibit movies with alcohol, violence, or explicit language.
“We listed several animated films and picked this one. It’s neutral, fall-themed — plus, many freshmen hadn’t seen it yet,” Koshen said.
Preparation Process
Preparation began months earlier. The team started working with Art Revolution in June and had already submitted the budget in April, Koshen said.
“A month before the event, we made the schedules and ordered everything we needed,” Koshen said. The hardest part, she added, was securing permission to use the newly renovated football field, which now has stricter rules — no food or drinks allowed directly on the grass.
Head organiser Kamilla Muratbekova, a second-year International Relations student, took over the position this fall.
“Planning for Sky Cinema actually began last semester, when we submitted the budget,” Muratbekova said. “The main preparation, including recruiting members, started about a week and a half before the event,” Muratbekova said.
Muratbekova said the toughest part was scheduling.
“The hardest thing is coordinating time and making a schedule of who is on duty when,” Muratbekova said.
Budget
Finance Head Amina Agabekova, a third-year Finance student, said organisations at KIMEP submit presentations with the proposed event ideas and dates, and after approval, a detailed budget is created.
“For Sky Cinema, we requested 756,000 tenge to cover beanbags, a projector, a photo booth, and food and drinks,” Agabekova said. “The beanbags alone cost about 280,000 tenge, then came pizza from Papa John’s. We add 20–30% for inflation because months pass between the request and the event,” Agabekova said.
Organisation
Muratbekova said she mainly focused on coordinating members.
“I’m still learning the system, so I mostly worked with members. Maybe later I’ll handle purchases and other tasks,” Muratbekova said. “My favorite part is the atmosphere — working together as a team. The less exciting part is collecting data about who can come and when,” Additionally, Koshen said:
“We watch the weather and try to pick the best time for an event like this. We hold Sky Cinema to show freshmen our organisation and then run a casting call,” Koshen said.
Art Revolution handled the live music that opened the evening. President Arina Lyssenko, a third-year Law student, said, “We rehearsed for about two weeks. Time was tight because, alongside Sky Cinema, we were also preparing for the convocation performance, so we had to manage our schedules carefully to make sure both went well,” Lyssenko said. Because of the time crunch, the music segment began later than planned.
“Our musical department set criteria for choosing songs,” Lyssenko said. “First, we looked at the type of event — since this was a movie night, we chose songs from musicals or cartoons. Second, musicians perform best when they enjoy the material. And third, we always consider the audience, because connecting with the crowd is essential,” Lyssenko said.
Lyssenko said they even thought about the grass under their feet.
“We had to protect the football field. To avoid damaging the surface, we brought rugs to place under our instruments — it also looked stylish,” Lyssenko said.
On the collaboration, Lyssenko added, “Our collaboration with KIMEP Geeks was incredible. I’m grateful to Zhaniya and her team — most of the organizing was on their side, and everything was well structured. I’d give it a 10 out of 10,” Lyssenko said.
Teamwork Makes the Dream Work
Koshen said the most rewarding part was the team: members arrived early to help, and the warm, dry weather was a pleasant surprise. “Our members are full of energy, they come early and help. And this time the weather surprised us — warm, sunny, no rain,” Koshen said.
“We staged this event at the start of the semester to show freshmen KIMEP and attract them to our casting call,” Koshen said.
“Sky Cinema is our way of showing who we are,” Koshen said. “It’s how we open the semester,” Koshen said.