Ouzbékistan - Nicolas Pernot.

Nicolas Pernot guides audiences through Uzbekistan, a Central Asian country at the heart of what was once the great Silk Road crossroads. The film traces a path through vast deserts, fertile oases and legendary cities where merchants, scholars and conquerors once mingled for centuries. Samarkand stands as the country's most iconic destination, its blue domes and grand squares bearing witness to an era when trade carried science, art and ideas across continents. Ancient observatories and madrasas (schools) recall a civilisation that prized knowledge as highly as silk, while horsemen still gallop across the plains in a living tradition. Nicolas Pernot is a photographer, documentary filmmaker and lecturer who has spent more than ten years travelling Central Asia and the Caucasus, including extended stays in Tajikistan and on the shores of Lake Baikal before settling in Georgia in 2020. His work offers a nuanced view of post-Soviet societies. He has previously presented Georgia and Armenia at Grands Explorateurs events in France, Switzerland, Belgium and Canada.