- December 17, 2008
To Whom It May Concern:
This past October, I had the pleasure and great fortune of working with Liwenyan and Ali at Silk Road Tours International 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 Liwenyan and Ali at Silk Road Tours International , 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 them enough.