DokuBaku Festival opens in Baku

By Azernews

By Laman Ismayilova

The 5th DokuBaku International Documentary Film Festival has opened in Baku. The ceremony took place at the Stone Chronicle Museum.

The main topic of this year’s festival is "Senses ±", and most of the films presented are devoted to the people’s inner and outer metamorphoses, their search for themselves, and the meaning of their existence.

People's Artist, director Ogtay Mirgasimov, artist, film director, Ph.D. Teymur Daimi, head of the YARAT Cultural Programs Department Ulviya Akhundova as well as  foreign guests - producer Alla Kargina and director Anastasia Sarycheva (Russia), film director Maya Blofield (Finland), film critic , professor at the Sorbonne Christian Feigelson (France) Christian Feigelson (France) attended the event.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, the festival's director Imam Hasanov  stressed that DokuBaku is the largest documentary film festival held in Azerbaijan over the past years.

The selection committee has been evaluating films that will be presented to the audience and the jury for three months.

The program includes 50 films, which were selected from more than 200 applicants. In total, films from 30 countries will be shown to the audience. 

The international jury will the winners in categories Best Feature, Best Short, and Best Azerbaijani Film.

Winners in each category will be awarded with a diploma and handmade statuette - iHuman. Also, the hosts of the festival have two special prizes and - iCyborg, which will be awarded to outstanding representatives of Azerbaijani cinematography for their special merit.

In addition, a retrospective of the Azerbaijani documentary films will be arranged as part of the event. 

The retrospective will be dedicated to the memory of the late Azerbaijani screenwriter and director Chingiz Rasulzade.

The out-of-competition films about living during a pandemic will also be screened.

This year festival is organized with the support of the Goethe Institute, Free Art and BARZA Art Bureau.

The festival's partners include Azerbaijan Culture Ministry, Baku Media Center, YARAT Contemporary Art Space, Colibri Arts and Institut Français d'Azerbaïdjan. 

The screening venues include YARAT Contemporary Art Centre, Cine House, Kapellhaus, Nizami Cinema Centre, Stone Chronicle Museum. 

The 5th DokuBaku International Documentary Film Festival will run until November 7. 

The tickets are available at iticket.az. Full program is available at www.dokubaku.az

Facebook: facebook.com/ IDFFDokuBaku

Instagram: @idffdokubaku

Media support is provided by  Azernews.az, Trend.az, Day.az and Milli.az.