De Verstekeling

“The Stowaway” carries the slogan: “Those who do not believe in dreams, are not realists”, and in the film viewers should not be surprised at miracles! The film opens in the former fishing village Mujnak in Karakalpakstan, a republic in Uzbekistan. With the shrinking of the Aral sea family income from fishing has disappeared with the water. Orazbai, the son of one of the former fishing families dreams of another life and stows away on a boat ending up not, as he supposes, in New York but in Rotterdam. There he finds shelter and strikes up a relationship with a woman and her young son. Through the son he begins to learn the language. He fails to find work and is eventually picked up by the aliens police and returned to his village. Once home he recognizes that his future lies in his own country and not in his dreams. Miracles – yes, somehow the water returns to the Aral! (Press release about the film winning the 1st European Templeton Film Award)