ARALKUM
Synopsis
A desert landscape, as if from another planet. A few lonely, rusty shipwrecks. Low desert scrub grows around them to hold the sand together during the merciless storms. Aralkum, the Aral Desert, is the bare seabed, the last thing left of the Aral Sea.
By weaving together different cinematic textures, the short film ARALKUM re-imagines the dried-up Aral Sea, allowing an old fisherman to set sail one last time.
'The shortfilm prize goes to a film that opens a door on a landscape swept by human excess. A poetic, political and aesthetic work where words and archives give birth to a sensorial experience on disappearance, loss, memory, oblivion, absence. An unexpected and masterful cinematographic gesture that questions our humanity. [Jury Statement 53 VdR]
'A film that combines a unique mix of documentary and experimental form. A warning story about the uncontrolled range that a human intervention to the environmental balance can take. A new cinematic reality very well constructed by the authors, in an impressive movie. The Special Jury Award is bestowed to Aralkum.' [Jury Statement DRAMA ISFF]
Festivals/Awards
among others:Best Shortfilm – 53 VdR, Visions du Réel, Nyon
nominated for DocAlliance Award
qualified for Academy Awards Best Documentary Short
Jury Special Mention – 15 BELDOCS, Belgrade Documentary Festival, Serbia
Seal of Approval ‘highly recommended’
25 VIDEOEX Zürich, Switzerland
21 DOKUFEST Prizren, Kosovo
35 Montenegro FF. Herceg Novi
Jury Special Award – 45 Drama ISFF, Greece
18 CAMDEN IFF, USA
20 TIRANA IFF, Albania
17 UNDERDOX, Germany
14 DMZ Documentary Festival, South Korea
17 SHORTS Mexico ISFF
20 DOCLISBOA, Portugal
15 IMAGINE SCIENCE New York, USA
29 ETIUDA&ANIMA Krakow, Poland
41 Uppsala SFF, Sweden
4 Saigon Experimental FF, Vietnam
63 Festival dei Populi, Italy
64 Zinebi Bilbao, Spain
45 Poitiers FF, France
41 Filmschoolfest Munich @ FILMFEST MÜNCHEN, Germany
38 Interfilm Berlin, Germany
5 Frontera Sur Festival, Chile
03 Lima Alterna IFF, Peru
23 Izmir ISFF, Turkey
20 Bogoshorts, Colombia
20 London SFF, UK
2023
44 FF Max Ophüls Preis
movies that matter festival, The Netherlands
52 sehnsüchte – Int. Student FF
17 Ethnocineca IDFF Vienna
16 this human world – International Human Rights Film Festival
Cast and Crew
- Director Daniel Asadi Faezi, Mila Zhluktenko
- Producer Fozil Yunusov
- Director of Photography Sadriddin Shakhabiddinov
- Sound Design Andrew Mottl
- Score Giovanni Berg
Production Company
HFF München (Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film)Bernd-Eichinger-Platz 1, 80333 München
Phone: +49 89 689570
Fax: +49 89 689579900
info@hff-muc.dehttp://www.hff-muenchen.de
Links / Reference
Daniel Asadi Faezi
contact@asadifaezi.com
asadifaezi.com/aralkum/
TRAILER
vimeo.com/685951895
PRESS
businessdoceurope.com/visions-...
www.fbw-filmbewertung.com/film...