Rise of the Conqueror
In the 14th-century, as the Silk Road crumbles and rival factions tear the land apart, fearless warrior Timur emerges from exile. Stripped of everything, he fights to unite the fractured kingdoms, using strategy and sheer will to carve an empire from chaos. Undefeated in battle and widely regarded as one of history’s greatest military leaders and tacticians, not to mention one of its most brutal, Timur would found the Timurid Empire, which ruled over modern-day Afghanistan, Iran and Central Asia.
The Taliban's Natural Resources
Since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, Afghanistan has drawn growing international attention for its enormous reserves of rare earths and strategic minerals essential to the global energy transition. The country is believed to hold more than €1 trillion in resources, including copper, lithium, cobalt, iron, uranium, chromite, mercury, and rare earth elements, as well as valuable gemstones and gold. Often described as the “Saudi Arabia of minerals,” Afghanistan has become the focus of a geopolitical race for supplies. While Europe and the United States remain hesitant to engage with a regime accused of serious human rights abuses, countries such as China, Russia, Turkey, Qatar, Pakistan, and India are already positioning themselves in Kabul to secure access to these critical resources.
Homeland
After graduating in Fine Arts, Najiya has found work in an art publishing house, while she dedicates herself to deepening her creative obsession – painting pictures representing her people's totem, the sacred deer – and gradually becoming a renowned young artist. Despite enjoying her success, the atmosphere of her triumph enhances her feeling of loneliness and longing for her homeland, her country. Ignoring her friends' attempts to dissuade her and her lover's pleas, Najiya quits her job in the city to return to the distant mountains of Xing An Ling. But unexpectedly, her people have herded the deer out of the forest and gone to live in the city. In an empty forest, she can't find anything, not even herself.
Tashkent: The End of an Era
Tashkent: The End of an Era reconstructs the complex history of Tashkent by means of archive footage which has never been shown before and the testimonies of its inhabitants.
