An expanse of sand dotted by rusting ship relics : this is the panorama from the shores of Lake Aral in Uzbekistan. The lake is now only one tenth of its former size, owing to a plan Nikita Kruschev launched in the 1950s to step up cotton farming in central Asia by deviating the course of the lake's two major inflowing rivers. Fishing and tourism, the former livelihood of the local population, have all but disappeared, displaced by a huge environmental disaster. Antonio Martino, who earned special mention for his Pancevo-mrvta grad at the 2007 CinemAmbiente, using historic footage and eyewitness accounts, documents the aftermath of a catastrophe and symbol of man's impact on nature.