Interview with Saodat Ismailova

Speaker(s): Saodat Ismailova
Duration: 4 min

Presented on the occasion of Amanat, The Sacred Forest, this conversation with Saodat Ismailova explores the stories that shape her artistic practice. How do memories survive across generations? What becomes of myths, beliefs, and cultural heritage when landscapes—and the histories they hold—are profoundly transformed?

Born in Uzbekistan and raised in the aftermath of the Soviet era, the filmmaker and artist draws on the layered histories of Central Asia, weaving dreams, rituals, and family memories into her films.

She reflects on the meaning of "amanat," a word rooted in the Arabic amānah ("trust") and shared across Persian and Turkic languages. More than an inheritance, an amanat is something entrusted to our care—a memory, a story, or a body of knowledge that must be safeguarded before being passed on. It is a concept that resonates deeply with both her family history and her artistic practice, which gives voice to stories that have long remained unheard.

The conversation also turns to the Arslanbob Forest, home to one of the world's largest walnut forests. In a landscape profoundly reshaped during the Soviet period, Arslanbob remains a place where history, myth, and nature continue to coexist. For Ismailova, it embodies a living archive—one that has preserved what history could never fully erase.