SAZ – THE KEY OF TRUST

It’s the journey of her life: Petra Nachtmanova travels to both the end of the world and the centre of her heart. The Berlin musician heads off in search of the origins of a string instrument tangled in myths, which found its way to her in the streets of Berlin Kreuzberg: the Saz. She travels from Berlin to Istanbul, through Anatolia, over the snowy peaks of the Caucasus and into the dusty desert of eastern Iran. She meets Bosnian instrument makers, music teachers who climb mountains in suits and chainsmoking Turkmen who possibly invented blues rock. She has one request for each encounter: ‘Play me a song that I can take home with me’. First she meets skeptical amazement. Then enthusiasm. And finally, deep trust. ‘Saz’ is a film about the power of music and the scope of the world, simultaneously a road movie and a quest for meaning, a breathtaking trip in the border region between Europe and Asia, which shows that despite conflict and crisis, there is a human everywhere out there, as well as something special that holds us together.