I almost got all of my film (about 30-40 rolls) confiscated at the Dushanbe airport on the way back because I had a tourist visa and they thought I’m a journalist after looking at rolls of film. They asked for a $1000 bribe to let me go with the film, which is ridiculous. But, I patiently insisted that I’m just a tourist and took some landscape and friends, and they somehow let me go for free after roughly one hour of some bizarre inquiries and discussion among officers. But, they took 4 out of 30 to 40 rolls of Fuji-120 for “inspection”… I really didn’t have any choice but to give up the 4 rolls…
I came up with several possible options to avoid this, but not sure if they would be the solutions. Let me know if anyone can answer my questions. Or, please let me know if you could give me any other tip to avoid it other than shooting digital.

(1) Any place that develops 120 color film for medium format in Dushanbe or anywhere in Tajikistan? If there is such a place, I wouldn’t have to have so much headache.

(2) Does the X-ray for check-in baggage affect ISO 100 and ISO 400 film? I heard different opinions in the past, but is anyone sure about this? I’m also afraid that countries in that region may have different standards.

(3) Would shipping unexposed films abroad be safe (or possible) from that area? I heard some companies have film shipping services, but not sure if it’s worldwide. Or, regular international shipping would be safe for unexposed films?

(4) Train to Moscow etc: I know borders around Tajikistan are tricky and risky. But, how about the train to Russia? It seems to be the only international public transportation other than planes from the Dushanbe Airport. Would they check baggage at the borders at Uzbekistan-Tajikistan, Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan or Turkmenistan-Russia borders?

I am pretty sure that having a media visa or accreditation there is not really an option since I’ve heard from other lightstalker members and actually learnt over there that a media visa would just close doors to many places where tourists can go without any problem. And, you’d probably have to deal with the legacy of the Soviet bureaucracy more often than otherwise. The airport is pretty small, and it is very likely that you may run into the same officers at the check points. So, be careful if you are bringing a lot of film there.