Discoveries from Azerbaijan World Cinema

A man who wants to avenge his daughter causing a scandal in his home with a mine he brought from the war.

August 1922. An American journalist, Jerry Thompson, travels to the Soviet Union and arrives in Azerbaijan. He visits the settlement of Mardakan in Baku. There, he meets an elderly man at a villa. Thompson can hardly believe what he hears. Standing before him is Haji Zeynalabdin Taghiyev, a once-great oil producer, millionaire, and philanthropist who lost all his wealth after the establishment of Soviet rule. Haji recounts his life story to the guest, a journey that saw him rise from a humble mason to an influential oil industrialist.

Muslim prince Ali and Georgian aristocrat Nino have grown up in the Russian province of Azerbaijan. Their tragic love story sees the outbreak of the First World War and the world’s struggle for Baku’s oil. Ultimately they must choose to fight for their country’s independence or for each other.

For eighth-grade honor student Sariyya, her wedding and the geography olympiad fall on the same day. The film tells the story of a 14-year-old girl's struggle for education against her family's expectations.

Mammad and Tazakishi, who heard that Malik's girlfriend is getting engaged to a different man, decide to kidnap their friend's girlfriend while he is in the military. However, it won’t be easy for friends to kidnap a girl who is a karate world champion.

Natig a 16 year - old teenager can’t accept the shame of his family any longer and joins the military tryouts in an attempt to break away from his life in a small village.

Drug addict Adish is horrified by a picture he accidentally came across on a Telegram channel. Although the woman's face is not visible, her underwear and shower curtain seem very familiar to him. When he looks up, he sees that these items are in his own house... Adish's mind is clouded by suspicion, anger, and the influence of psychotropic substances. Adish, who tries to prove his "manhood" with the intervention of his brother, makes an irreversible mistake... However, when morning dawns, the truth emerges - but was what he saw and believed really true?

An allegorical comedy centered on two childhood sweethearts who seem destined for one another until the women of their isolated village, angered by male indifference toward the water shortage, go on a sex strike that threatens the young couple's first night of love.

Due to the difficult financial situation in the circus, magician Zaman is demoted to a part-time role, while his beautiful assistant Atlaz is laid off. To show the circus director the difficulty of being a part-timer for a day, Zaman uses a magic trick to "divide" him in two.

A classic and at the same time unrealistic and phantasmagoric love story with betrayal and hatred. A woman's ruthless hatred of her husband suddenly starts to surface in the programs of the TV channel she has co-founded with her husband.

Two human guinea pigs brave the horrors and uncertainties of a bold escape attempt that could either lead them to freedom or push them toward doom.

Provincial singer Dilshad Kadarli heads to the capital in pursuit of fame. Due to a misunderstanding, he is mistaken for a criminal and pursued. To make matters worse, Dilshad falls victim to the promises of fraudulent producers. Will his "Wolf's Tooth" talisman be able to save him?

The plot of the film is based on three love stories. The events take place in Moscow, Baku and Africa, but most of them are related to the Azerbaijani capital. The film, shot in the comedy genre, takes place during the Great Patriotic War, when the Germans left the occupied territories.

The film anthology includes 10 short films: "Asia", "Meeting", "Artist", "Yard", "Bahram Gur", "Lottery Ticket", "Caspian Atlantis", "About love", "Aysel" and "Coincidence". Each screenplay in the project reflects different moments in the life of Baku. Short films bring to life relationships between people, their love and longing, happy and sad moments. The main hero uniting these people, relations and different moments of life is the city of Baku.

In the summer of 2002, an 11-year-old boy grapples with his first experience of death while competing for the attention of a girl at a neighbor’s funeral.

Musa, a law student seeks out Davud, a man imprisoned for kidnapping four women. He soon discovers that all of his victims have no wish to press charges. On the contrary, they have the feeling of a new truth in themselves. Musa's encounter with the purported criminal becomes a journey into someone else's inner world. Are the questions he asks the correct ones? Is the law a genuine form of justice? What is the meaning of humans imposing punishment on others? Is Musa being enlightened by a superior man, or is he being lured into a world of illusion?

This story of two temperamentally different brothers takes place in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku during the 1970s. The elder brother Jalil is a married postal worker who keeps bees as a hobby. Younger brother Simurg is more adventurous by nature and capable of going after his goals, not just dreaming about them. Jalil has a recurring memory: once, when he was still a kid, his mother, pregnant with Simurg, took him to a women’s sauna. When both brothers fall in love for the same beautiful girl, their differences become apparent once again.

In the present day, archaeologist Tapdig finds a strange egg during archaeological excavations and claims that this egg is a million years old. No matter how far-fetched it may sound, what he says is actually a reality in the parallel universe that existed millions of years ago. As Tapdig says, the tribal chief entrusts his son Dudu with the sacred eggs inherited from his grandfather, and instructs him to protect them, warning him that a great disaster will occur if these eggs break. However, by chance, one of the eggs falls from Dudu's hands and breaks, and Dudu is transported to the present day. Having fallen into the modern era, Dudu devotes all his energy to searching for the surviving egg (found by the archaeologist). In this, he is helped by the swindler Magsud, a journalist he has just befriended. However, the results are not at all as expected.

Murad is a well-known psychologist, appears as an expert on various social programs. A famous singer named Aliya seduces Murad and they decide to spend their first night at a hotel. Murad, in a fit of passion, involuntarily grabs Aliya by the throat and squeezes her tightly. As a result, Aliya faints from excitement. Murad thinks that Aliya is dead and panics. He looks for ways out of this difficult situation. Finally, he is forced to call his wife, Sabina, a forensic expert, for help...

An uncle and his nephew travel to the capital to sell fruits and vegetables. On the way, they sell a sack of “thyme” that was meant for someone else. It turns out the sack didn’t actually contain thyme. Escaping from the owner of this deposit — worth millions — turns out to be a complicated matter.

The events occur during the Nagorno-Karabakh War. Because of a corpse in a zinc coffin with an arguable address, two families get excited. Having cut the lid off the coffin to identify the soldier, they find out that he is, in fact, Armenian - former citizen of Baku.

The film tells the story of the events during the night of January 19 to 20, 1990, when the Soviet Army invaded Baku and its surroundings and killed many civilians.

In the autumn of 1888, Baku is preparing for the visit of His Majesty Alexander III. Millionaire and member of the Baku City Duma, Haji Zeynalabdin Taghiyev, is fighting for influence and status in society. The city mayor, Orlovsky, taking advantage of his position, seeks to seize the oil field of Teymurbekov, who has committed suicide. Meanwhile, Ismail, the eldest son of Haji, meets General’s daughter, Nurjahan Arablinskaya, and intends to marry her.

The main character of the film, Akif, escapes from an orphanage to find his mother. On this painful journey, with an uncertain ending, the protagonist faces numerous challenges. The swift intervention of a prosecutor’s office employee raises many questions for the audience about the essence of life. Apathy-2 delivers a powerful "slap" to the mentality of bringing children into this world thoughtlessly.

Davud returns from war to find everyone in his village has succumbed to a strange illness and has decomposed. His sister, the only survivor, is slowly rotting away herself. Davud is troubled by his memories as a soldier, as he confronts the only true question: is surviving the same as living?

Asiman arrives in Baku. After hearing rumors about his grandfather, he and his friend Isabala go to Shaki to visit his grandmother.

Saribaş village, Gakh District, Azerbaijan Republic. The documentary film depicts a day in the village. The people of Saribaş provide information about the history, folklore, and customs of Saribaş.

Akif's parents, Ahmet and Elnara, who grew up illiterate and without any profession, without love, took Akif out of school and were busy looking for a job for him. A poor family living in a poor house turn to Akif's drug addict uncle Azer, who is engaged in car repair, to provide him with a job. Moreover, Elnara's brother, Mansur, who works as a laborer, took refuge in this poor family so that he would be free from additional expenses. In the background of all this poverty and chaos, a murder occurs at home. The murdered person is hidden and is being searched for by both relatives and the police as a missing person.

Hasan (33), who works as a sales manager in a construction company, and his wife Farida (30) have not been able to have children for a long time. After a doctor's examination, Hasan learns that he is infertile. But Hasan, who is afraid of harming his masculinity, hides this information from his wife. At the insistence of Hasan's mother, who thinks that the problem is in Sevda, they go to a midwife who lives in a village for treatment.

Today was Ibish’s birthday. Ibish invited his friends to the celebration, especially his close friend Tima. At first, the guests’ toasts and warm camaraderie seem heartfelt. After Tima abruptly leaves, his intoxicated friends begin speaking ill of his wife, and their chat quickly escalates into an argument. One drunk guest even airs circulating rumors about Tima at the table. Shocked by what he hears, Ibish can hardly believe his ears. Tonight, Ibish faces a tough decision, both dangerous and difficult.

Inspired by Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, the film follows a prodigal son who returns after 12 years. His reappearance at the family home in rural Azerbaijan significantly alters their way of life.

Ruslan and Sevda are forced by their parents to get married by the age of 30. Tired of neighbors and relatives saying things like "You're stuck at home," "When are you going to move, baby?", the young people don't want to get married, but events bring them together...

The film tells about school life, the mutual relations of teenage schoolmates, views on friendship and life, and the formation of these views.

The film "Last Autumn", written and directed by Rustam Babazadeh, is a comedy genre with elements of grotesque and satire.

A young man imprisoned because of a love relationship meets Molla Nasreddin in prison. Molla Nasreddin teaches him lessons about life, spirituality, and wisdom, inspiring him through his stories. In the end, the young man decides to create a statue of this wise figure.

1992. Independent Azerbaijan is fighting separatists in Karabakh. Journalist Miranda arrives from London to shoot a documentary about the Caucasian leopard. Fate brings her together with the scout Emil. Together, they go through severe trials, during which Miranda learns a lot about the Caucasian leopard and the tragic pages of Azerbaijan's recent history.

Asiman and Isabala, who were involved in petty fraud and theft in their past, have now turned to the right path and have been working together as morticians for 3 years. However, life puts them through another big test and puts them before an important choice - a new fraud or the right path they have chosen.

The film based on Agil Abbas's novel about Nagorno-Karabakh War. The film tells about the heroism of the sons of Azerbaijan, who fought for the Motherland to the last drop of blood in spite of everything in the Karabakh war.

The film tells the story of two brothers, Ji and Mi, who were separated for many years and found each other after 20 years.

An incredible love story. The script of the film is inspired by the Lezgins and reflects the fate of the Lezgin people. This is the first Lezgin feature film in the history of Azerbaijani cinema.

The movie is about relations between mother and her daughter-in-law.

In "Sovetsky" Alik, whose house was demolished, and Ramin, who was preparing to get married are being deceived into selling a house. Valid Huseynov, who had cruelly deceived them, is preparing for his son's wedding. After the heroes learn about this, they choose the most unusual way to get their money back...

The block's residents get a message from Tofig who has been hiding in Moscow saying that he is in trouble. They leave for Moscow to rescue him.

A group of young people decide to make a horror film about a character named Alajen (myth) in Lankaran. This is when Alajen becomes real. Can these young people make friends with Alajen, or do they leave the filming and return to Baku?

Residents are slowly leaving the village due to thirst. Only one family, aunt Nakhish and man Rahim, endured a thousand hardships to guard the grave of Allahverdi, their only child who died in the Karabakh war.

The wedding day planned by Lala's father is fast approaching. Emil realizes that time is against him and he must act urgently. At that moment, an opportunity arises: Lala's father is leaving town for a few days to prepare for the wedding. Emil asks her brother Zaur for help in saving Lala from this marriage. Zaur, however, is faced with a difficult choice - his father's will, family traditions and influence in society, or loyalty to his friend and protecting his sister from the same fate.

Maqsad lives a simple life with his wife Giyamat and son Sohbat, but suddenly things change when his son Maksim from a Russian woman comes to see his father from Russia.

Four friends who grew up in the same yard embark on an adventure after losing a classic car belonging to the family of the girl the romantic and charismatic Khagani loves in a gamble.

Eldar, Bakhtiyar, Elnur and Alihuseyn are childhood friends. Eldar is thinking of marrying the girl he loves, Gunay, but he doesn't have the money to have a wedding. While looking for money with his friends, he sees an advertisement for a program called "Lie Detector" with a prize of 10,000 manats and joins the program. As a result of the questions asked throughout the program, Eldar is confronted with his interesting and funny past.

Rena is a victim of rape as a young woman. This trauma becomes a lifelong tragedy for her. Years later, when she meets the man who brought this game upon her, Rena can only talk about what happened to her on a hotline.

Sometimes materialism is superior to friendship, conscience, humanity, and even love. Even friends of "a hundred years" can, in a moment, sacrifice everything to greed and take a wrong step. Perhaps this is the right choice for some. Or have human values ​​already changed?

Celebrating his birthday with his mother in the village, Ilkin wants to go to the house where his grandfather and father disappeared for unknown reasons. Along with Ilkin, his wife and four friends visit that house. The house, which gives the impression of an old and abandoned place, starts gradually startling its guests. Paranormal events and dark forces turn the friends' night into a nightmare...

Shot during the Nagorno-Karabakh War, "Fəryad" is only one of its kind. Following the Khojaly Massacre, Ismayil, an officer tasked with collecting the bodies, crosses enemy lines to avenge the brutal murder of a local schoolgirl. There he gets captured by Armenians and waits for the day to be exchanged for an enemy POW.

The main character is a villager. His grandfather was a student at the Shaolin school. He himself has been a fan of Bruce Lee since childhood. There is a girl in the village who he loves. Later, the girl finds another suitor. Since the suitor is very rich and has opportunities, he encounters certain problems. But Bruce Lee overcomes many difficulties with his will.

The events in the film mainly take place at the railway station. The main character, Karim, has the greatest goal — like his father — to kill flies. And for this work he considers himself a true hero. In short, the main meaning of the film is that those who are engaged in idle work actually consider themselves to be concerned with serious, vital issues.

Jafar, a bank employee who receives invitations to five weddings and is looking at his salary, is left in a desperate situation. The only reason is money again. Finally, an earthquake saves Jafar from these weddings. The film criticizes our unnecessary customs and traditions at weddings and funerals. Also, while watching the film, the proverb "Extend your leg according to your blanket" comes to mind.

The interesting events that happen to a 30-year-old city dweller on the eve of the magnificent celebration of Novruz in Baku. Bayram, who has been living an unsuccessful life, is determined to put an end to all his failures on this Novruz holiday. In accordance with tradition, he also makes a wish and jumps over a bonfire. The wish he wishes for is to live a problem-free life like a child! However, if you don't want to end up in an unthinkable situation, you should be careful about what you wish for. Otherwise, you may end up in a dead end like the hero of our film. His wish turned his life upside down and shocked his friends, fiancée, and everyone around him. No one can find a way out of the ridiculous and unbelievable situations he finds himself in. Moreover, since his wedding is only a few days away, the situation is getting even more complicated. His life is getting more difficult every passing day.

Two exorcists are hired to get an evil spirit out of a young girl's body. When they start working, things begin to get worse for them.

The film centers around Novkhani, a coastal village where government officials are conspiring with the local mafia to seize the land of its residents. When the villagers resist, Khan's father is tragically shot on the orders of the corrupt officials. As a means of fighting back, the villagers devise a plan to pretend to be the Italian mafia.

Years after the collapse of the Soviet Union… The hero of the film is an actor of the provincial theater. The chaotic mood of the time he lived in directly affected his character and mental state. He suffers from depression. The environment, loneliness oppress him, he is in a state of psychological shock. He also loves his counterpart in the theater, Leyla. However, he cannot express his feelings. There comes a moment when he says “it is necessary to end everything” and leaves.