Film screening: Wicked Winds and Invisible Seas
With DAVRA research group, the National Film Archive, Ponrepo Cinema
Pachta-Oj, courtesy of the National Film Archive Prague | Aral: Fishing in an Invisible Sea, film still, courtesy of Saodat Ismailova
Length: 02 hours 00 minutes
Language accessibility: CZ & EN
The program features two Uzbek films from different generations, each addressing the water issue in Central Asia from unique perspectives.
Pachta-Oj (1952) was directed by Komil Yormatov, an avant-garde filmmaker and a pioneer of Uzbek cinema. This youthful and playful work discusses the significance of cotton as a valuable resource that promises a prosperous future for the country. Thanks to the National Film Archive, we will have a rare opportunity to see this film from their collection screened in the original 35 mm format. The second film, Aral: Fishing in an Invisible Sea (2004) by Saodat Ismailova and Carlos Casas, depicts three generations of fishermen living on the shores of the Aral Sea, which has dried up due to the cotton policies implemented in Uzbekistan during the Soviet era.
The Tale of the Wicked Wind / Pachta-Oj
Directed by Komil Yormatov
Starring: Asad Ismatov, Obid Dzhalilov
USSR – Uzbekistan / 1952 / 43 min. / 35 mm
Russian / subtitles in CZ, ENG
“The Soviet trick film, shot in Tashkent, shows through a fairy tale how it is necessary to protect the cotton crop from a number of pests, as it is the greatest wealth of the Uzbek SSR.” (Film Review, 1952)
Aral: Fishing in an Invisible Sea
Directed by Carlos Casas & Saodat Ismailova
Uzbekistan, Italy / 2004 / 52 min. / DCP
Russian, Karakalpak / subtitles in CZ, ENG
A documentary about the Aral Sea—originally one of the world’s largest lakes until the Soviet Union steadily diverted its tributaries, reducing it to 10 percent of its original size—and about three remaining generations of fishermen and their daily struggle for survival on the lake.
Tickets via Ponrepo Cinema
Admission: 120 CZK (standard) / 100 CZK (reduced) / 60 CZK (with a one-year membership)
Special thanks: Daria Chernyak, Saodat Ismailova
The event is organized by tranzit.cz in collaboration with the National Film Archive as part of Ponrepo Cinema’s series Film and Climate and the accompanying program of the Biennale Matter of Art 2024.