The purpose of the article is to study historical politics as politics of memory in the modern Turkic republics of the Volga region in contexts of visualization of memory by means of cinematography. The author analyzes the role of the politics of memory in the formation of the memorial canon as a form of development of national identities in Tatarstan, Bashkortostan and Chuvashia. Methodologically, the article is based on the principles proposed in the memorial turn and the analysis of the politics of memory in intellectual history and the history of ideas.