Gérard Depardieu : My uzbek dream

During a journey of “initiation” in Uzbekistan, Gérard Depardieu sets off looking for signs of past civilizations and the marks they have left in the main cities of the country: Nukus, Khiva, Bukhara, Samarkand, Fergana and Tashkent, the capital. He freely discovers the country as a traveller, not a tourist, going from place to place to follow some advice, his wishes or a tale in a book. Gérard Depardieu tells us the little-known history of this country and goes and hunts down anecdotes from history through local guides who share stories and surprising discoveries. This journey on his own has the many thoughts that he says out loud on magnificent pictures echoing within him. He talks of tolerance, of secular Islam, ofreligions, of prayer, death, ecology, the desert, wars, beauty...

"Seeing that despite this patchwork of peoples, fruit of invasions and population displacement, Uzbekistan has built true tolerance. Seeing that despite Stalinist terror, a cultural treasure has been saved. Seeing that despite the ecological disaster of the Aral Sea, the country is fin- ding solutions. Seeing that a tolerant, open Islam exists, this is the subject of the film." Arnaud Frilley