What is there
Nomad City stands on the left bank of the Ili River near Konaev, 106 km from Almaty. It is a set of a medieval Kazakh city:
- fortress gates;
- a mosque;
- a central square;
- the khan’s headquarters;
- workshops;
- a zindan — an underground prison.
Since 2025 the sets belong to the city of Konaev.
A set with a filmography
- Nomad — the city was built for it in 2004.
- Day Watch (Russia, dir. Timur Bekmambetov, 2006).
- January 12 Vidudala (India, dir. Anil Ravipudi, 2026) — members of our team worked on this Telugu feature.
What it can play
A medieval city of the Great Steppe, a fantasy kingdom, the town of an Eastern fairy tale. It suits period films and series, fantasy and music videos: walls and gates for sieges and arrivals, the square for crowd scenes, the khan’s headquarters for court intrigue, the zindan for the prisoner who escapes.
Two locations, one day
Right across the Ili are the Tamgaly-Tas rocks with 17th–18th-century Buddhist carvings. You can shoot them the same day. Within the same trip:
- the open steppe near Konaev, for riders on the horizon;
- Tamgaly, a gorge with thousands of Bronze Age petroglyphs and a UNESCO site, 173 km from Almaty;
- the Singing Dune in Altyn-Emel, for the desert crossing.
Dressing it for your story
The walls are standing; the rest is your film. Our art department handles production design, set construction and props, and finds or makes costumes of any era. Add cavalry and stunt riders, replica weapons with licensed armourers, fire and pyrotechnics. Extras come from Kazakhstan, up to 3000 a day.
Practical notes
- Drive from Almaty: 1 h 40 min. The crew stays in hotels in Konaev.
- Best season: April–June and September–October.
- Permits: we arrange them, 14 days.
- Drones: in tourist zones, after registration.