In the Fire

Film exposes the corruption and the decadence of the late Soviet bureaucracy in Azerbaijan SSR through the eyes of a naive Azerbaijani adult man, Hatem.

An account of the revolutionary years of the legendary American journalist John Reed, who shared his adventurous professional life with his radical commitment to the socialist revolution in Russia, his dream of spreading its principles among the members of the American working class, and his troubled romantic relationship with the writer Louise Bryant.

After having been captured in a Crimea during a failed attempt to flee overseas, Leo returns in Petersburg for Kira.

The investigator Seyfi Ganiyev runs the case of an illegal mercery shop's head Murad Abiyev, who confessed in embezzlement of one million rubles from public funds. Abiyev is also accused of the murder of an underage girls that occurred in Riga shortly after Abiyev saw her. He denies his guilt, but does not name the perpetrators though he knows them, despite the fact that he is facing the death penalty. The investigator understands that some high-ranking officials stand behind Abiyev, but he has no proof. Ganiyev seeks to obtain from the prisoner the whole truth to bring the criminals to justice.

Lenin in Paris

March/April 1917. The first world war is already a couple year to pace. A sealed train with Russian emigrants keeps on driving from Zürich Germany and Sweden to Sint-Petersburg. The outlaws stand under the guidance of Vladimir J. Lenin. Two senior officers support the revolutionary bomb "to ensure that everything runs smoothly. Yet there are some unpleasant clashes between Socialists and enthusiastic workers who are worried about the war. During train travel there comes an end to Lenin's affair with the gracious Inessa, and his wife Nadja is prepared take back him. The triumphant entrance in St. Petersburg will exceed all expectations....

Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, better known as Lenin, is remembered as the instigator of the October Revolution of 1917 and, therefore, as one of the men who changed the shape of the world at that time and forever, but perhaps the actual events happened in a way different from that narrated in the history books…

The life of a Russian physician and poet who, although married to another, falls in love with a political activist's wife and experiences hardship during World War I and then the October Revolution.

A dramatized account of a great Russian naval mutiny and a resultant public demonstration, showing support, which brought on a police massacre. The film had an incredible impact on the development of cinema and is a masterful example of montage editing.

Sergei M. Eisenstein's docu-drama about the 1917 October Revolution in Russia. Made ten years after the events and edited in Eisenstein's 'Soviet Montage' style, it re-enacts in celebratory terms several key scenes from the revolution.

Docu-drama about political and military conflict during the Russian Civil War in 1918, from an orthodox pro-Communist viewpoint.

Animals on a farm lead a revolution against the farmers to put their destiny in their own hands. However this revolution eats their own children and they cannot avoid corruption.

Biopic about general Hazi Aslanov, who died fighting Germans in WW2.

Reminiscing the 1917 Russian October Revolution, a time when the films' director was 14 years old.

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.

On July 5th, 1922, Norwegian explorer, scientist and diplomat Fridtjof Nansen creates a passport with which, between 1922 and 1945, he managed to protect the fundamental human rights as citizens of the world of thousands of people, famous and anonymous, who became stateless due to the tragic events that devastated Europe in the first quarter of the 20th century.

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.

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.