Azerbaijan’s "Steppe Man" screened at Belgrade film festival
By Nigar Orujova
Azerbaijani movie, the Steppe Man (Cholchu), has been screened at the 42nd Belgrade International Film Festival - FEST in Serbia.
The plot of the film, which has been directed by Azerbaijani filmmaker Shamil Aliyev, revolves around the story of a steppe man living far from the cities. His father makes him familiar with the steppe life. After his father's death, he meets a young woman from a nearby village who transforms his life and leads him to a big and unfamiliar world.
The "Steppe Man" is Azerbaijan's official submission to the Best Foreign Language Film Award for the 2014 Academy Awards.
Scriptwriter of the film is Vidadi Hasanov. Director of photography is Rafig Guliyev. Production designers are Rafig Nasirov and Ibrahim Khalil Aminov. Composer is Rauf Aliyev and producers are Mushvig Hatamov and Azer Guliyev.
The film stars Bahruz Vagifoglu, Vidadi Hasanov, Javidan Mammadov, Salome Demuria, Vusal Mehraliyev and others.
"The Steppe Man" has already attended over 17 international film festivals and forums and received a number of awards. It was co-sponsored by Azerbaijan's Culture and Tourism Ministry and produced in Azerbaijanfilm studio.
The Belgrade International Film Festival gained cult status during the time when it did not yet contain a competitive element. An important feature of FEST all these years was its openness to films from all parts of the world, as well as to all relevant authors and works that would never have the opportunity to be shown in cinemas.
Since its inception, FEST has always had its main program, along with a few accompanying ones, whose quality often exceeded the expectations put in the name "accompanying". There were also many "accompanying" publications, exhibitions and symposiums held during the Festival.
Nevertheless, the central event always was and remains the main program, followed by the competition program "Europe out of Europe", which has been in existence for the last couple of years.