Cinema
The Flight of the Bee
Parvaz-e zanbur
Synopsis
Anor, a schoolteacher in his forties, lives in Ashit, a small village in Tajikistan, in a poverty owed as much to society as to his own fate. His neighbour, a rich man and a prosecutor, builds latrines against his fence and comes every day to spy on his wife. In protest, Anor starts digging a hole in front of the prosecutor's house, to the jeers of the village. The story is threaded through with the legend of a Persian army saved from thirst by the advice of an old man whom everyone had rejected.
Context
Shot in black and white, from a screenplay by Usmonov and with Min Byung-hun on camera, the film speaks the Tajik of the country and uses actors who were mostly non-professional, chosen for their voice, intonation and way of speaking. Shown first at the Pusan festival, it was screened at more than twenty festivals. The University of Pittsburgh study likens it to European neorealism, while stressing that it is a moral parable.
Who it is for
For those who like village parables shot on a small budget with non-professional actors.
Prizes and reception
Winner of the grand prize, the audience prize and the international critics' prize at Turin, it also received the Silver Alexander at Thessaloniki in 1998.
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