In Tajikistan, Dushanbe, "the youngest of the Soviet capitals", was long extolled by the USSR’s propaganda. After the collapse of the empire, once again oriental, the director’s hometown regained a certain freedom, although already threatened by the new masters of the country. Moreover, the war between Abkhazia and Georgia, which broke out in 1992, emptied the city of its inhabitants and left its painful marks in streets and minds alike.

“Study yourself, study your people, be beautiful in all you do. Uncle Othakan.” Received in Paris during the years of exile, the letter was present in Gulya Mirzoeva’s memory when she returned to Dushanbe. That day was the mourning ceremony of uncle Othakan, a journalist and campaigner for democracy, assassinated nine months earlier in the courtyard of his home. Her return to her country, camera in hand, was an opportunity to visit the city and her former friends. The brother has abandoned his medical studies and the painter his easel: filmmakers compare the war to “an Alien that has entered people’s souls”. In the city, only the main streets are tarmacked, but people know only too well that “reconstruction can be achieved only through that of the souls, by looking one another in the eye”. For the moment, the new power celebrates over and over the country’s hero, the king Ismail Samani, who founded the Tajik state one thousand one hundred years ago. And the singers of Allah’s praise flock the streets again, under the astounded eyes of the children.

Source : Doucha Belgrave