Azerbaijani documentary to appear on screen at Sarajevo film festival

Source: AzerNews

A documentary directed by Azerbaijani film director Rodion Ismayilov will participate in the Sarajevo Film Festival due August 16-24.

"I am delighted that the film 'My relatives' will once again represent Azerbaijan at one of the oldest festivals in Europe. At the same time, one of my previous films, 'Camping Ground', participates at a film festival in Italy," Ismayilov said.

"Camping Ground" will represent Azerbaijan at the international Faito DOC Festival, which will be held in Naples, Italy on August 21-25. The film has already taken part in about 20 international festivals.

The storyline of "My relatives" is based on the first visit by lead character Lolita to Azerbaijan. Lolita is a person who personifies two cultures, as her mother is Russian and her father is Azerbaijani.

This delicate and compelling story describes a ten-year-old girl who comes to Azerbaijan for the first time to be acquainted with her father's relatives. Lolita aspires to learn about the culture and traditions of her Azerbaijani family members.

The 63-minute long film of the DS FILM Production Center was made with the support of the Ministry of Culture of Russia in the Tovuz region of Azerbaijan. Camera operator of the film is Mikhail Gorobchuk, music was composed by Vladimir Kuptsov, and the producers are Rodion Ismayilov and Svetlana Dalskaya.

The film won "The best anthropologic film" award at the eighth Open Russian Anthropological Film Festival (RAFF) in April and was nominated for "Best Documentary" at the eleventh Almaty International Film Festival "Stars of Shaken."

The film was also shown at the international documentary film festival "Visions du Réel" ("The images of reality") in Nyon, Switzerland, in April.

Ismayilov graduated from St. Petersburg State University of Cinema and Television in 1998.

In 1997, along with Alexander Bashirov, he established a studio and shot a feature film, "The Iron Heel of Oligarchy", which became a cult film once.

From 2000 to 2005, Ismayilov was the president of the St. Petersburg Foundation of Independent Cinema. Since 2009, he is the director and producer at the DS FILM Production Center.