National film shines at Varesh Int’l Film Festival

/By AzerNews/

By Amina Nazarli

A short film titled “Hope” by Azerbaijani film director Emil Guliyev was awarded with one of the main prizes at the eighth Varesh International Film Festival.

The film won the “Best Film Director” prize at the event held in Mazandaran, Iran on January 19-22.

From 1,278 films sent to the festival, 168 were included in the festival's competition program. Some 58 of them were works of Iranian filmmakers and 110 of foreigners.

The festival included such documentary films of Azerbaijan’s "Azanfilm" studio as "Melting Island", "Interihange", "Lahic" as well as the animated film "Old Watch". The short feature film "Lighthouse" was also screened during the festival.

“Azerbaijan was represented by five films of different genres. After the difficult and intense competition the great victory in one of the most prestigious nomination "For the Best Director" won the film Hope,” said Bahram Bagirzada, the producer of the film. “We hope that the proud name of our country will be in the very first lines of the world's most prestigious film festivals.”

“ART BAKU PICTURES has already started to conquer film world. Next month our friendly and creative team headed by Emil will begin shooting the feature film titled “Mental”,” he said.

The festival aimed to promote cultural heritage of several Caspian nations and ethnic groups. It also helped identification of young and talented filmmakers as well as development of creative links between them.

The hero of the event also spoke about his impressions. “We are not just shooting film because we like this process. We just want to contribute to the glorification of Azerbaijan. I am so delighted, that our efforts brought such significant results. This is not our first prize. Diplomas, statuettes and money prizes are amazing, but, we should move forward, that’s why we need support of those who are interested in promoting Azerbaijani cinema,” Emil said.

Earlier in November 2014, the film became the Grand Prix winner of the fifth Independent Short Film Festival in Tula, Russia.

The film was shot by ART BAKU PICTURES with the support of Ultra production and Ziya Mammadov, the CEO of VIDEO.AZ company.

The film’s screenwriter is Khayal Mammadov and Emil Guliyev, operator - Elman Aliyev, music - Ramiz Fataliyev, sponsor - Elizaveta Abbasova.

The film included non-professional actors - refuges from Azerbaijan’s Lachin region, which are living in Ismailli region. The slogan of the film is "Land for the forgotten people".