Good Bye, Southern City

The Bat(az)

In a Azerbaijan, in the beginning of this century, the first films made in the history of cinema are shown.The characters meet each other in a room. Three characters who will witness the linking up of their destinies through their common love for this new captivating art.

Nabat(az)

The story is set during an upsurge in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and revolves around an old, sick ex-forestry worker and his wife Nabat, whose son has died in battle.

Caucasia(ru)

After her husband's death, a widow returns to Moscow with her mother-in-law, unaware that a depressed passenger is determined to blow up the train en route

From Two Worlds as a Keepsake(en)

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.

Down the River(az)

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.

On Distant Shores(az)

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.

Beast(az)

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 Labour and Rose(az)

The film is about famous Chechen ballet and folk dancer Mahmud Essembayev's life.

Matteo Falcone(az)

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.

Tahmina(az)

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.

Another Life(az)

Psychological drama about a university dean who leads a double life.

The Last Mountain Pass(az)

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.

The Hostage(az)

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.

I Loved You More than Life(az)

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

The Scoundrel(az)

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.

Interrogation(az)

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.

The Last Night of Childhood(az)

Murad, a young man fails the entrance exam to the Institute and starts working at the meat factory. His cousin Rustam, a worker on a building site, fights with him against the dishonest people who sell pieces of meat from the factory. After a series of dramatic situations, Murad and Rustam manage to uncover the thieves.

You Can't Take an Island with You(az)

A young girl is trying to save an island which is endangered by nearby construction.

In a Southern Town(az)

Murad, a young man, lives by the old ethical norms that are still valid in the suburbs of his city. He had promised Tofig, his childhood friend, to give him his sister as a wife, but Tofig is in love with another girl. He forgets the promise and takes the girl home. Murad is offended. According to the code of honor, he must take revenge. One of the first films ever produced in the Soviet Union to challenge the sociopolitical establishment.

Two Boys from the Same District(az)

I Loved You More than Life(az)

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

Qwerty(en)

A grieving young inventor finds solace in repairing an antique typewriter.

Qwerty(en)

A mentally-afflicted young man is accused of murdering his longtime benefactor. The real truth of what happened lies in his mad obsession with his supposed victim's old typewriter, on which he types relentlessly, day and night.

123 Hugs(en)

If hugs are tangible why am I hugging the void

Project CC(en)

A brilliant child scientist must join forces with her sister when a cloning experiment goes awry.

The Last Child(en)

In a badly-overpopulated future, where each couple is only allowed one child and where people over 65 are forbidden medical care under a very draconian set of laws, a young couple, pregnant with their second child (the first died shortly after birth) enlist the help of an elderly former US Senator to help them escape to Canada.

El gran simulador(es)

Documentary about René Lavand, the world famous Argentine magician specializing in card magic that makes his dreams with only the help of his left hand, losing the right in an accident as a child. Far from being defeated by such a circumstance, Lavand obsessively practiced from childhood to achieve complete mastery of the deck and be recognized as one of the greatest magicians in history.

The Cat's Me-Ouch(en)

Jerry orders a vicious dog from a catalog, but when it arrives, it's even smaller than Jerry. However, despite its size, it launches an impressive attack on Tom

Qwerty(en)

The movie is a fictionalized account of a disgruntled cop who has been wrongly implicated in a torture video that went viral. It begins on his last night of duty, as he is about to leave for abroad for better job prospects.

The Right to Love(fr)

The tragedy of Helene and her husband Pierre, whose life is shattered when Pierre is kept as a political prisoner, while Helene is denied the right to visit him. A growing fear of losing her husband to tuberculosis takes over Helene, who does all she can to meet him, even for one last time.

Fat Man on a Beach(en)

A poet of forty wanders about the beach, changes his clothes when he feels like it, reads his poetry, reminisces engagingly, and reflects on life. Looking rather like Max Bygraves gone to seed, he keeps up a patter full of original jokes, interspersed with powerful verse about life and death.

The Moon Bird(en)

The Moon Bird is a dark fairytale about an orphan girl called Teardrop who inherits magical powers from her late parents. A terrible sorceress Experimentia desires the magic for herself and pursues Teardrop for her own evil ends. Teardrop must outwit the sorceress with the help of a magical bird created after one of her tears binds with the moon.

Few Good Things(en)

A short film coinciding with the release of the album "Few Good Things" by Chicago artist Saba.

Pearl Harbor: 75 Years Later(en)

This two-hour special looks back at Dec. 7, 1941 - the date that has indeed lived in infamy, as President Franklin Roosevelt promised - when imperial Japan attacked the U.S. naval forces in Hawaii, ushering America into World War II. The attack killed more than 2,400 people, wounded 1,000 and damaged or destroyed nearly 20 American ships and over 300 airplanes.

O(fr)

A dancer as filmmaker refrains from superfluous movement in a villa in Brittany, giving way to an individual as well as social state described by the French philosopher Paul Virilio as "polar inertia".

Hsueh Ping-Kuei and Wang Pao-Chuan(zh)

A taiwanese language film. The folk tales of Gezai Opera are put on the screen, and the form of the stage play is maintained.

The House That Hungers(en)

When a young woman finds herself trapped inside a house that devours all life, she has to rely on her wits and cunning to survive.