Filmmakers Union launches Cinema Days in Astara

The Azerbaijan Filmmakers Union (AUF) will bring a selection of acclaimed Azerbaijani films to audiences in the country's southern region as part of "Cinema Days in Astara," scheduled for July 1–3, AzerNEWS reports.

The initiative aims to promote national cinema, increase public engagement with Azerbaijani filmmaking, and expand audiences beyond the capital.

The program will feature screenings of director Zaur Gasimli's feature film Taghiyev: Oil; Ilgar Najaf's feature film Pomegranate Orchard; the feature-length docudrama Nargin, directed by Elmaddin Aliyev and Khayyam Abdullazade; Orkhan Agazade's feature-length documentary The Return of the Projectionist; and the short fiction films Far Away by Daniel Guliyev, May You Live as Long as the Land by Samir Karimoglu, Early Feelings by Nurlan Hasanli, and Victory Dance by Garay Hasan.

Through this initiative, AUF aims to bring Azerbaijani national cinema to wider audiences across the country's regions and to foster dialogue and engagement within the field of cinema.

Founded in 2012, the Azerbaijan Filmmakers Union (AUF) focuses on the development of local cinema as an integral part of national culture and world cinema.

Azerbaijani cinema has come to be an internationally recognized modern art, enjoying huge popularity and recognition at international film festivals, which frequently award the national films.

Over the past years, more than 300 films and 1,200 documentaries, as well as hundreds of cartoons, have been filmed.

The Azerbaijan Filmmakers Union is a member of the Confederation of Unions of Cinematographers of the CIS and Baltic States.