Per°Form Open Academy of Arts and Activations 2024 Studio — Aral. Fishing in an Invisible Sea (2004) by Saodat Ismailova

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Synopsis

A documentary film centred around the resilience of three generations of fishermen as they navigate the harsh realities of their once-thriving ecosystem of the Aral Sea, battling for survival amidst environmental devastation resulting from the Soviet Union water diversion projects.

About Saodat Ismailova

Saodat is an Uzbek filmmaker and artist graduated from Tashkent State Art Institute and Le Fresnoy, National Studio of Contemporary Arts. Interweaving myths, rituality, and dreams within the tapestry of everyday life, her films investigate the historically complex and layered culture of Central Asia which stand at the crossroads of diverse material histories and migratory legacies. Departing from her personal history marked by growing up in the post-Soviet Uzbekistan, she reaches out to the collective dimension of memory. Her research encompasses the region’s ancestral knowledge and traditional spiritual practices as well as modern history of Uzbekistan which manifests through the interlacing of archival footage from its cinematic history.