Saodat Ismailova is an Uzbek filmmaker and artist who came of age in the post-Soviet era. Interweaving rituals, myths, and dreams within the tapestry of everyday life, her films investigate the historically complex and layered culture of Central Asia. Frequently based on oral stories in which women are the lead protagonists, and exploring systems of knowledge suppressed by globalized modernity, her works hover between visible and invisible worlds.

Ismailova graduated from Tashkent State Art Institute and Le Fresnoy – Studio national des arts contemporains, France, and has established artistic lives between Paris and Tashkent. In 2021, she initiated the Davra research collective to develop the Central Asian art scene. In 2022, Saodat Ismailova participated in both the 59th Venice Biennale and documenta fifteen. Her film Melted into the Sun (2024), commissioned by Fondazione in Between Art and Film, was part of the Nebula exhibition during the Venice Biennale in 2024. In 2025, she presented the performative forest cinema experience Arslanbob: The Healing Forest at Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Brussels. Ismailova received The Eye Art & Film Prize (2022), Amsterdam; the Foundation Pernod Ricard’s Nouveau Programme (2025); and was named a Medalist at Art Basel 2025. She is a creative fellow at SAVA – Socialist Anthropocene in the Visual Arts at the Institute of Advanced Studies, London.