TUVA?

This film is a very personal story for me. I wanted to tell a story about people who may belong to different cultures, speak different languages and see the world differently, yet at some point become the only ones who can truly hear and support each other.

A few years ago, I visited Tuva for the first time and was so struck by the place that I promised myself I would make a film there one day. After that trip, I enrolled in a directing programme and returned to the same places with a film crew two years later.

Tuva is a fully fledged character in my story: a place where cultures, religions and worldviews meet; a land where Buddhism, shamanism and contemporary life coexist. That is why only Tuva could bring my characters together and mark the beginning of their inner journey.

In my story, shamanism is neither an exotic curiosity nor an ethnographic detail. It is a dramatic key to exploring growing up, finding oneself and a person’s inner journey through mythological thinking and the Tuvan worldview.

Before turning to directing, I spent many years working as an actress and television presenter, making programmes about travel and other cultures. Much of that experience shaped this work. For me, the film became the first project to bring together all my professions: writer, director, actress and explorer of human stories.

At a time when wars are unfolding around the world, I felt an urgent need to avoid the language of division. I wanted to look to the East as a safe, silent space where one could hear oneself, another person and the world anew.

Anastasia SaltykovaConcept creator and director