Naft Sefid

Naft Sefid (White Oil) used to be one of Iran’s most thriving towns, built on the country’s sixth largest oilfield. Then, twenty years ago, the oil ran out. In what has become a ghost town, wind and dust now reign. The remaining hundred and twenty inhabitants descend from the nomad shepherds sedentarised by the oil strike. They survive by cutting stone in a quarry and selling it to distant work sites. An old man wanders through the ruins, haunted by images from the past. He contemplates the poverty of children with no school, of families with no doctor to tend a small child burnt by gas. “Without oil, we are no more than beggars.” His words are echoed by the voice of those who were too weak to leave and who tell of the lack of water and abandon. He hardly dares dream of organising a party for his children’s wedding, like in the old days.