18 000 Worlds - Film Screening by Saodat Ismailova
Drawing from Sufi traditions that suffuse Uzbeki life, Ismailova’s film 18 000 Worlds, (2023) (31 min, color, sound), realized with the support of Eye Art and Film Prize, casts light as the main protagonist. It glances off futuristic atomic-era monuments, burnishes tiled turquoise domes, streams in from a cave ceiling, and appears as resplendent sunrises and sunsets, lime-green auroras, and the moon. Within this sphere of light, there are people, too: wizened and smiling, weaving silk, or plucked from the annals of Soviet military history and Western anthropology through archival footage. 18 000 Worlds (2024) is part of the DCAB 2024 film program.
The screening is followed by a conversation between Saodat Ismailova and Andrea Lissoni.
Presented By
Andrea Lissoni
Andrea Lissoni, PhD, has been the Artistic Director of Haus der Kunst in Munich since 2020. Previously he was Senior Curator, International Art (Film) at Tate Modern, London, and curator at HangarBicocca, Milan. He curated Philippe Parreno’s Turbine Hall Commission 2016 and survey exhibitions of artists Joan Jonas and Bruce Nauman. His research concerns liveness, cinematic aspects in time-based artworks, the perception of time, and forms of transmitting, sharing and engaging in contemporary arts. He explores these through transdisciplinary approaches focusing on artistic contexts across nondominant cultures and subcultures with a particular interest in music and sound.
Saodat Ismailova
Saodat Ismailova’s films unspool the landscapes and traditions of post-Soviet Central Asia, in particular her homeland of Uzbekistan. Weaving a rich tapestry of ritual, folklore, and a timeless atmosphere that envelops her predominantly female protagonists, Ismailova’s cinematography is slow and meditative, employing long, dreamy takes. The daughter of a cinematographer, she graduated in filmmaking in Uzbekistan, then moved to Treviso and Berlin for residencies, first with the research center Fabrica and the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin program. Her documentary and fiction films have won awards at major film festivals and international exhibitions. In 2021, she set up DAVRA, a film collective dedicated to documenting Central Asian cinematic heritage.