Azerbaijani director's film wins at Italy festival

By AzerNews

The documentary "Nomads" (Köç) by Azerbaijani film director Rodion Ismayilov won the main full-length documentary award of the Faito Doc Festival held in Naples, Italy, on August 21-25, Ismayilov told Azernews.

The festival honors new and cutting-edge foreign independent films in several competition categories. Partnering with notable film industry companies, film educators, directors, producers, and writers, the competition provides a forum for talented filmmakers to be recognized for their work, creativity and achievements.

The 52-minute "Nomads" film was shot in the summer of 2010 in Azerbaijan. The shooting took place in the country's Tovuz, Goygol and Dashkesan regions. The movie has already taken part in about 20 international festivals.

"Nomads" tells a story about Azerbaijan herdsmen who overtake a flock of sheep from one place to another over six days. Their trip is wearisome and dangerous. The people and animals get very tired, and some of them cannot stand it and die.

Moreover, another documentary by Ismayilov, "My Kith and Kin", will vie for victory at the international film festival of documentary drama in Saratov, Russia, and the LET'S CEE Film Festival in Vienna in September.

The storyline of the 63-minute "My Kith and Kin" 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 the 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 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 "Shaken's Stars".

Rodion 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.