Following the Closing Keynote on 25 April, Saodat will embark on unpacking her most recent film archives, continuously over the next five days, in the Per°Form Open Academy Studio. There will be numerous screenings as Saodat articulates her trajectories of ecology, tradition, living with the non-human, colonialism, and the female universe through the lens of her key film, The Haunted.
Saodat interweaves myths, rituals and dreams with everyday life. She calls our attention, in a nuanced way, to social issues such as the drying up of rivers and women’s right to decide whether to wear the veil. Women’s identities and emancipation is a recurring theme in her work. Women play an important role in keeping Central Asian cultural and spiritual heritage alive – for example by passing on stories and customs from mother to daughter, generation after generation.
Each night of the Studio, Saodat engages in conversations of a particular topic and the night ends with film screening.