December 17, 2008
To Whom It May Concern:
This past October, I had the pleasure and great fortune of working with Ali
Hudabardy Tash of the Uighur Tour and Travel Service
www.uighurtour.com on a one-hour television program for National
Geographic. I was in Kashgar to film an episode for a series called, Lost in
China with the Hutchens Brothers. This program focuses on the regional
influences left by the Silk Road. The series is airing internationally and
the episode we filmed in Kashgar has won the Gold Medal at the Australian
Cinematography Awards. National Geographic will continue to air the series
internationally.
Ali Tash was amazing as our local fixer. He was able to provide all
translation needs, scout locations, set up filming permits, assist with
vehicle, hotel and other logistics. In addition, we also involved him as an
on-camera character. Ali is a natural on-camera talent and was so much more
than just a translator. He became a friend to our two hosts and introduced
all of us to Uighur culture.
We felt extremely grateful to Ali for his help in gaining permission for us
to film Ramadan in the central square in Kashgar. It was a challenging
permit to acquire but he knew the right people to contact and made it
happen. He also was able to procure permission for us to stay and film with
a group of Kurghiz people in the Pamir mountains and another group in the
Taklimakan Desert.
The truth is without Ali, we would never have been able to produce such a
successful, award-winning film. During production, Ali worked tirelessly and
was so wonderful that we wanted to bring him on all of our other shoots in
China.
If you have the opportunity to work with Ali Tash you should. He is hard
working, calm, focused and a delight to have on set. I couldn t recommend
him enough.
