The film portrays the life of the legendary Azerbaijani guerrilla of the Second World War Mehdi Huseynzadeh, who fought the Nazi forces in the present-day Italy and Slovenia, hence the film's name On distant shores referring to the Adriatic Sea.
The movie tells about the tragedy of miserable people who turned to dogs. A group of people who desperately seeks for a job is abducted and forced to labor like slaves.
The film is about famous Chechen ballet and folk dancer Mahmud Essembayev's life.
Matteo Falcone is an Azerbaijani short drama film based on Prosper Merimée's like-named story from 1829. Matteo Falcone is a successful Corsican, who lives with his wife Giuseppa and 10-year-old son Fortunato. One day he leaves home with Giuseppa, leaving Fortunato alone.
Popularly known by the name of the main character, "Mashadi Ibad" was based on a musical comedy by composer Uzeyir Hajibeyov and written in the early 1900s. The story is based on the age old-theme of a beautiful young woman Gulnaz who falls in love with a young man Sarvar but is obliged to marry someone else.
This Azerbaijani romantic drama depicts the love affair between Zaur, a man from an affluent family, and Tahmina, a divorced woman doing her best to survive in a conservative society.
Psychological drama about a university dean who leads a double life.
Based on a novel by Farman Karimzade, the movie shows the life in an Azerbaijani village under the Soviet rule in 1930s. Here two former "beys" (land owners) are opposing each other. One is loyal to the ideology of the past and can't reconcile himself to the new power, to second rejects the past and accepts the power of the Bolsheviks, believing that it will establish justice.
Set in Baku at the turn of the 20th century, a young successful businessman Asgar wishes to marry. He wants his bride to be the choice of his heart, however, Azerbaijani tradition restricted him from communicating with the lady as a lover before marriage. So Asgar decides to disguise himself as a mere cloth peddler and the young woman Gulchohra falls in love with him.
A journalist is investigating a group of poachers who are illegally selling the huge amounts of fish
Young Ruslan rows for a team coached by his father Ali, who places many demands upon his son and is continually dissatisfied by his performance. But when tragedy strikes, his father is overcome with emotions he doesn’t know how to deal with. Debut director Asif Rustamov treats the heavy topic with remarkable subtlety and discretion, emphasizing the characters’ carefully elaborated psychology.
In Soviet Azerbaijan, a divorced Armenian couple fights over the custody of their daughter, Ashen. Stolen from one parent to another, Ashen's guardians are tragically killed in the bloody war surrounding them. Will the arrival of a new savior finally bring Ashen freedom? Official selection of the Global Lens Collection presented by the Global Film Initiative.
A young girl is trying to save an island which is endangered by nearby construction.
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.
During the late 1980s and early 1990s the Armenian minority in Nagorono-Karabakh attempted to break away from Azerbaijan, one of the former Soviet republics. Overnight these former neighbors became enemies, and simple village folk were suddenly made hostages in a complex power game. One of the Azerbaijani villages right on the border is home to the family of the peasant farmer Kerim, who has just been captured by the Armenians. The village council decides to take an Armenian in order to arrange a hostage exchange. They imprison the wounded man in the barn next to Kerim's house, where his wife and three children desperately await the husband's return. The captive from the other side of the border finds himself in exactly the same situation - he, too, has three children, he finds it hard to scrape a living together, he has never done anything to harm anyone and, like Kerim, he just wants to go back home. But life in Karabakh is far more complex now. Blood calls for blood.
Religiously themed early Soviet propaganda film in Azerbaijan against Islam. Unlike earlier propaganda films in the region, this was actually made by an (nearly) all Azeri cast and crew and directed by an Azeri filmmaker that would go on to be famous amongst his own people, despite his early collusion with the new ruling government. At the center of the film is a greed Molla (holy man in Azeri Islam) who has been cheating one of the local peasants for years out of all types of goods and services, and then delighting over his success in an very un-religious, specifically un-Islamic, way. Once the Revolution takes place and the Bolsheviks arrive, the peasant is empowered and realizes the deception on the part of the Molla and takes him to the newly set up "People's Court," where is finds justice and the Molla is punished.
Dedicated to the development of the oil industry of Soviet Azerbaijan in the background of the first half of the twentieth century, including their selfless work in strengthening the economic and military might of the USSR.
A drama about a film crew making a movie in an isolated mountain town famous for its ancient fortress, and what happens when the town is threatened by a modern-day foreign invasion.
The film is about the stepmother who tried to be a real mother of a boy. But she could be a real mother only after some difficult events for her and child.
After learning that his daughter is in love with a truck driver, corrupt Housing Office director tries to make use of his service in a last smuggle operation, then break his promise and marry her to someone else. This comedy is mainly about the dark sides of the Soviet bureucracy.