Zjoktaoe - chronieka mjortvogo morja

Lake Aral. A water island in the endless ocean of Middle Asian deserts. It used to soften the climate, to bring fruitful rains, to feed millions of people with its fish. There were enormous oases, ancient towns, ruins of previous civilizations between Amu-Daria and Syr-Daria that took their food from Lake Aral. Nowadays, Lake Aral is dead. The river water cannot get to the lake, which has shallowed catastrophically. This is the result of the 'project-of-the-century' carried out by scientists and by the powerful Department of Waterways and Public Works. In the project, the river water was used to irrigate the surrounding cotton and rice fields. However, they did so too liberally and had not expected the deadly effects to the country, which was once full of blossoms.
This film is a lamentation for the people who had to leave their motherland. Zhoktau means: people's cry or burial. ZHOKTAU is crying out for the rivers drying up, for the desert turned into a swamp, for towns, for whole nations.