Saodat Ismailova
Saodat Ismailova is an Uzbek filmmaker and artist. Interweaving myths, rituality, and dreams, her films investigate the historically complex and layered culture of Central Asia which stand at the crossroads of material histories and migratory legacies. Departing from her personal history marked by growing up in the post-Soviet Uzbekistan, Ismailova reaches out to the collective dimension of memory. Her research encompasses the region’s ancestral knowledge and traditional spiritual practices as well as modern history of Uzbekistan which manifests through work on archival footage.
She initiated Davra research collective in Central Asia, 2021 and participated, the following year, to the Biennale of Venice and documenta fifteen. She also received The Eye Art & Film Prize, Amsterdam.
Melted into the Sun tells the story of Al-Muqanna (The Veiled One), an 8th-century mystic and revolutionary from Khorasan who fought for a just society – questioning land extraction, hierarchy and property. Al-Muqanna’s proto-socialist ideas and magical practices have reverberated throughout the history of Central Asia.