Live and live in Fergana

Portrait of a typical European feminist - Olga Lipovskaya (1954-2021), journalist, translator, poet, founder of the women's non-profit organization St. Petersburg Center for Gender Issues (an educational and resource center for women and women's organizations), editor of the samizdat magazine Women's Reading.

Having gone to Samarkand in search of traces of colonial culture, of which there were quite a few left there, having carefully photographed them, we suddenly discovered that it was not the dead buildings that were much more interesting, but the living carriers of this very colonial culture. The result is a film about people who live on the ruins of an empire.

The Burden of Virginity explores the deeply rooted traditions surrounding virginity in Uzbekistan, focusing on the expectations placed on brides to remain "pure" until their wedding day. The film follows the story of a young Uzbek woman who faces public humiliation and familial rejection after failing to prove her virginity. Her ordeal leads her to contemplate suicide, highlighting the extreme pressures imposed by societal customs.

Karimov is dead - but we are not yet. Tashkent of the post-Karimov era.

Travel to Copenhagen

Chronicles of the cultural life of Tashkent (2007 – 2015). From the murder of Mark Weil to the wedding of Alisher Usmanov. Tashkent Biennale, apartment buildings, video art festival, conversations about nothing, amateur performances and operational shooting, advertising and much more. Tashkent, which no longer exists, just as these people are no longer in it.

Rites and rituals have, for decades or even centuries, ingrained behavioral models into our subconscious, which at first glance may seem harmless. But how relevant are they to the place and time we live? What role do they play in shaping gender stereotypes? Weddings, circumcision, beshik-toy, and many other rituals and ceremonies of the peoples of Uzbekistan—what roles do they assign to men and women? We were quite interested in observing all of this.