Retour à Douchanbé

In 1992, shortly before the violent outburst of a civil war in Tadjikistan, the filmmaker left her home country to live a love affair in France. Seven years later, she returned to central Asia to refind her family. It was also a time for her to take stock of all that had changed since she left. The small peaceful republic, which the ex-Soviet Union had formerly glorified as being an exemplary paradise, is now confronted with a total lack of perspective for the future. The economy is out of control, the town exhausted. Many are absent-either dead or exiled. Houses stand empty. Parents, family and friends have changed jobs or their way of life.