Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

Azerbaijani films have become more and more popular at international festivals.

Two Azerbaijani feature films -- “Down the River” and "Nabat" were awarded at the Let's CEE international festival took place in Austria’s city of Vienna on October 1-11.

The films were demonstrated in Urania, Village Cinema and Actor's Studio cinemas.

Nabat’s heroine, the performer of Nabat role, Fatima Motamed-Arya was awarded the best leading role performer.

Another film “Down the River” produced by Asif Rustamov won the award on "The most promising debut" nomination.

The festival features exclusively high-quality productions from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), including the Caucasus region and Turkey. While the historical and geographical proximity to Austria might suggest otherwise, films from those countries have had a hard time finding their way into Austrian cinemas.

Since its first establishment in 2012, the LET‘S CEE Film Festival has been providing an exclusive and attractive stage for Central and Eastern European cinematography.

Thanks to the initiative and cooperation of the Azerbaijani Cultural Center in Vienna, Azerbaijan has been represented in the international festival for the third year.

“Nabat” director Elchin Musaoglu was shot in 2014 and is dedicated to Karabakh war, which resulted after Armenia's unjustified territorial claims against Azerbaijan.

The story revolves around a village's residents who are forced to leave their homes because of an ongoing battle. But there remains an old woman who refuses to leave her family members buried in the village.

The full-length feature film was awarded with many other prizes at many other influential festivals. It was screened at 71st Venice International Film Festival in Italy and at the 26th Palm Springs International Film Festival. The film was also presented at the 27th International Film Festival in Tokyo, Japan. Earlier this month, the film was screened at the 50th Chicago International film festival.

"Down the River" is a psychological family drama. Ali coaches a rowing team in a provincial town. The young squad also includes his son Ruslan, who finds it difficult to meet the demands Ali makes on him, and his father's frostiness and continual dissatisfaction are getting him down.

Ali is experiencing a crisis of middle age, and only Ruslan is preventing him from leaving his wife Leyla, whom he criticises for spoiling their son. He finds solace in his Polish lover Sasha, who'd rather have Ali for herself and dreams of starting a new life with him.

Just before an important race, in the interests of the team's performance, Ali decides to replace Ruslan, who was originally chosen for the event. But when tragedy strikes that same day, Ali is overcome with emotions he doesn't know how to deal with.

Debut director Asif Rustamov treats this weighty theme with remarkable subtlety and discretion, placing emphasis on the characters' carefully elaborated psychology and the film's muted visual compositions.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

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