Stains of Oxus

Directed by

Saodat Ismailova

Stains of Oxus evokes an oneiric journey through the greatest Central Asian river, Amu Dariya – known in Greek times as Oxus, portraying the transformation of landscape and witnessing people that inhabit its riverbanks, beginning from the high plateau of Tajikistan to the lowland desserts in Uzbekistan where the river finds its end. Uzbekistan where the river finds its longest journey is one of the two land locked countries in the world, making water a sacred element of nature. Stains of Oxus attempts to bring back a memory of how water has been worshiped and taken care in the tradition. This abstract topographic journey awakes the question of Central Asian ecosystem and landscape, traditions of caring about water and brings up the problem of water mismanagement in the region in a poetic way.