When the Persimmons Grew

Hilal Baydarov : 2019
Xurmalar Yetişən Vaxt

Immobile in a home in which the sands of time fall to the rhythm of rural Azerbaijani sounds, a mother waits for her son. When he arrives, their conversations circle around existential questions and news from afar, troubling and cryptic. Unrest cloaks the world outside. Mother and son grow closer, silence melts into words, and life springs up between them. The son leaves, and winter settles upon the forever-outdated house, in which temporalities blur and past and present beat to the rhythm of the same clock. Hilal Baydarov's documentary was winner of the Jury Prize when it premiered at Visions du Réel 2019, and the Heart of Sarajevo for Best Documentary at Sarajevo Film Festival 2019.

End of Season

Elmar Imanov : 2019
Ende der Saison

A small family in Azerbaijan is on the brink of running its course. Son Machmud feverishly seeks a home of his own; mother Fidan wants her life back after years of service to the family; father Samir just wants to be left alone. Three free spirits orbiting each other, ignoring the annoyances as much as possible. However, freedom can also hide incomprehension and alienation. A dramatic incident during a trip to the beach painfully highlights the hairline fractures in their existence. Elmar Imanov's feature debut was winner of the FIPRESCI Award when it premiered in competition in the Bright Future section at International Film Festival Rotterdam 2019.

Nabat

Elchin Musaoglu : 2014

Nabat and her husband Iskender, an old and sick ex-forestry worker, live in a small isolated house far from the village. The war in the Nagorno-Karabakh has been raging for some time and their son was killed in action in the 1990s. Their sole means of survival is the sale of milk from their only cow that Nabat takes to the village every couple of days. As the shadow of war envelopes the region, the village is slowly deserted by its inhabitants. Following Iskender's death, Nabat is all alone with her memories: memories of her son, and of the way things were. In empty houses, she forages for belongings left behind and sometimes even lights an oil lamp to revive just a little of the village's former vibrancy. Soon, a she-wolf approaches the old farmer's wife and keeps an eye on her. Documentary filmmaker Elchin Musaoglu's second feature premiered in the Orizzonti section at Venice International Film Festival 2014, and screened at International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg 2014.

From two worlds as a keepsake

Nika Shek : 2012
Yerku ashkharhic i hishatak

It is 1988, a multi-ethnic town in Soviet Azerbaijan. Eight-year-old Ashen's parents, both Armenian, are divorced, live in different parts of town and are forever in a tug-of-war over the girl. Ashen's father has remarried and his new Russian wife has become a second mother for Ashen. In fact everyone is kind to the girl and it doesn't matter what nationality they are. But childhood is not protected from aggression of the adult world, and when the conflict breaks out between Armenia and Azerbaijan, where Ashen lives becomes a far more serious matter. Ashen's mother has to give her over to her father to keep her safe. Ashen survives, but not her family. She loses her father and both mothers. She is saved by an Azerbaijani neighbour who could not save her own daughter, whose father was Armenian. Could this woman become Ashen's third mother? Nika Shek's film, her feature directorial debut, premiered at Montréal World Film Festival 2013.