AL-BIRUNI, THE QUILL OF INVADERS

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Date Medias Comments & Impressions

Presentation, 

8 September, Lausanne

  

A video-clip showing our experience in Uzbekistan. Please have a glimpse of our travel. It is not representative of our future movie, for that see the teaser on our Menu Page.
Presented on the 8th of Septembre, at the GRAAP, Lausanne
August, 20th Nandana Nandana. Ruins of an ancient observatory. At the top of the mountain with an open view over the whole valley. Our local guide was very kind and climbed fast even under the Pakistani summer sun.
August, 18th Hund Near Islamabad. We are looking for an old fort, one of the last of the Hindu Shahiya dynasty's, in the direction of Kashmir.

August, 17th

hindus

 Indus. We are in the famous river Indus. People come here to rest, take a walk, and bathe. Women are washing clothes as well.
August, 14th lahore

Minar-e-Pakistan, Lahore. Today, 14th August, is the National Day of Pakistan. We are in front of the symbol of the independence. The population of Lahore went out in the streets for the celebrations. At the Indian-Pakistani border there is a special ceremony.

On the picture: Vladimir and Kamran our taximan and occasionally guide.
August, 12th Lahore Museum Lahore Museum. The collection of astrolabes. This object from the XVth century is similar to that used by Biruni. It bears Farsi or Arabic inscriptions.
August, 10th Lahore Lahore. A very kind old farmer. He lives on the border of the river Ravi. According to Biruni's description 1000 years ago, Lahore is on the east side of the river, at the exact location where this old farmer is running his own business.
August, 9th

Interview Couleur 3 / Tehran
August, 7th Rey

Rey. Noemie and an astronomer are conversing at the sunset on the top of a hill, where there is an archeological site. It's getting too dark to continue the shooting, so we will come back the next day to finish our work here.

Downhill of this archeological site, there is a "bazar", with food and cheap stuff.
August, 4th Old Gorgan Gorgan, Northern Iran. In the picture, the garden in front of one of the highest ancient tower in the world, tomb of the king Qabus, from the Zyarid Dynasty, cruel, but supporter of sciences.
August, 2th Hamedan

Hamedan. Nice small city in the South-West of Iran. People are great and we met an exceptional family. The daughter on the left is about to start studying medecine, the mother, the woman in front is a philosophy teacher, and the super grand-mother, full of energy has many stories about Biruni.
July, 30th Desert The Silk Road. Between Tashkent and Khwarizm there is a desert. In ancient times thousands of caravans traveled here. Nowadays, the road is in a bad state. On the picture, the border line of the region of Khwarizm.
July, 26-28th

Khat

Khiva

Khiva. After the journey Tashkent-Urganch, we finally reached Khiva in Khwarezm (South-West of Uzbekistan). We were able to discuss Biruni with people here. Near Khiva is Biruni's birth place. We found it and many more interesting sites. Here people know Biruni very well and they told us : he is like Da Vinci in Europe. We could see a great pride about their ancestor.

In Khiva's Mamun Academy we met Abdulla, a historian who showed us the region.

In the first picture you can see a view from Kizil-kala (red fortress). This kind of fortress appears everywhere in this region. Maybe Biruni has lived in one of them.

In the evening, children are playing in the main square of Khiva. In the second picture, a child, around 8 years old, is explaining the history of Khwarezm and Uzbekistan. Noémie is very impressed.
July, 24-25th Biruni

Tashkent. After two days of shooting we are tired but satisfied. Our guide, Maksud, was very efficacious and we have already met a lot of people with whom we could speak about Biruni. We visit the Institute of Oriental Studies and the Polytechnic University named after Biruni, but also the city, the Independence place and the unique Middle Eastern metro, that we could not film (police is almost everywere but very kind with foreigners).

To go to the Biruni Institute of Oriental Studies, we first went to the wrong place, which bears the same name. Then we took a taxi, a metro, a taxi again walked and finally found the right place. We met a scholar of the Institute who was very open to our project.
July, 23th Flight from Geneva to Tashkent
Arrival at Tashkent on Tuesday, the 24th, 1am
Agrandir le plan 		We start today our trip to Central Asia.