Film

Be Water, my Friend

Be Water, my Friend
Be Water, my Friend

An expanse of sand dotted by rusting ship relics : this is the panorama from the shores of Lake Aral in Uzbekistan. The lake is now only one tenth of its former size, owing to a plan Nikita Kruschev launched in the 1950s to step up cotton farming in central Asia by deviating the course of the lake’s two major inflowing rivers. Fishing and tourism, the former livelihood of the local population, have all but disappeared, displaced by a huge environmental disaster. Antonio Martino, who earned special mention for his Pancevo-mrvta grad at the 2007 CinemAmbiente, using historic footage and eyewitness accounts, documents the aftermath of a catastrophe and symbol of man's impact on nature.

Il regista / The Director

Antonio Martino graduated from DAMS in 2004 before making Fatma Aba-ad. Come ho imparato ad amare i Saharawi. In 2003 he made the documentary Siamo fatti così, in which Freak Antoni, singer with the Skiantos, appeared. In 2005 he shot Noi siamo l’aria, non la terra on location at Cernobyl. In Romania he made the prize-winning Gara de Nord-copii pe strada (2006), which earned him the Premio Ilaria Alpi 2007. With Pancevo-mrvta grad (2007) he won the Special Mention award in the Italian documentary competition category at the 2007 CinemAmbiente.

Edizione 2009
Panorama - Ambient/azioni

documentario
Italia/Italy, Uzbekistan, 2009, 14'

REGIA/DIRECTOR
Antonio Martino

TAGS:
ACQUA - WATER / DESERTIFICAZIONE - DESERTIFICATION / ECOSISTEMI E BIODIVERSITA' - ECOSYSTEMS AND BIODIVERSITY / LAGO ARAL - ARAL SEA