Tatyana Soboleva

Against The Wind

The Nogai people are descendants of the Golden Horde who are living in the Southern Caucasus of Russia. They experience issues of language loss, identity loss, and lately, an ecological disaster. Formerly lush and green, today the Nogai steppe is turning into a desert. In the autumn, the team led by a simple woman named Gulfira goes deep into the new desert for several months. Every day they walk for many kilometres under the icy, sandy wind and plant branches of Juzgun – a shrub with long roots that can stop the sand. Will Gulfira survive in this battle for the homeland, or will the Nogai land disappear along with its people?

The Russian Way

After twenty years abroad, Natalya returns to her homeland and tries to change life in her native village - to repair roads, remove garbage and build a first-aid post. Will the Western experience take root in its native soil?