Flooded Livelihood

One day, the residents of the Dagestani village of Irganai woke to find water flooding their homes. The Irganai hydroelectric power plant had been put into operation without proper warning or preparation. Nearly 10,000 people saw their homes and orchards submerged. The damage was estimated at RUB 9.5 billion, yet the residents of Irganai have never received compensation.

Flooded Livelihood follows Magomed Aligadzhiev, the former head of the flooded village, who has spent years seeking justice and compensation from the state. He leads us through the endless circles of bureaucratic hell and the human tragedies left in the wake of the flooding.

Along the way, we meet a mother whose daughters drowned in the reservoir; an orchard grower trying to recreate the submerged gardens on new land; and the father of two brothers who were innocently killed by security forces in the mountains, who has planted trees from Irganai at the place where his sons were killed.

Through these stories, the film traces the workings of the Leviathan within one small corner of the North Caucasus – a place once famous for producing Dagestan’s finest apricots.