Surrounded by water, swaying reeds, and chattering birds, an elderly woman does her chores around her home. She tends water buffalo, cuts reeds, gathers firewood, and bakes bread. Zaira is one of the inhabitants of the ancient marshlands in the floodplains of the Euphrates and Tigris in southern Iraq. We follow her through her daily routines, scolding a disobedient buffalo, grumbling at the man who comes to sell her livestock feed—the price has gone up yet again.
Poetic, meditative shots of dewdrops on the reeds and the glow of wood fires in the darkness of night evoke an idyllic place, though one increasingly under threat. The camera follows Zaira over four years, during which the water level steadily falls. Birdsong grows scarcer and the buffalo become thinner and thinner. Many people leave, but Zaira stays. A moving testament to resilience and perseverance.
Stills
