Azernews.Az

Azerbaijan marks the birthday of Rasim Ismayilov, the distinguished Azerbaijani cinematographer, film director, and screenwriter, AzerNEWS reports.

The acclaimed filmmaker, whose 90th birth anniversary is being commemorated, devoted his life to the development and flourishing of Azerbaijani cinema.

Beginning his career at Azerbaijan Television in 1962, the young cinematographer wrote the screenplays for the short television films Azerbaijan Reports and Two More People. As a director, he made several documentaries, including The Roads of the Blue Screen and The Rhythms of the City.

In 1965, he directed the animated film Talking Lights, followed by The Reds, the Blacks and the Others in 1969. The latter, an allegorical animated film based on his screenplay, received the Diploma for Best Director at the Prometheus-69 Festival in Kyiv.

Ismayilov made his debut as a cinematographer in feature films with the novella Passing Through the Mountain Forest, part of the film anthology The Force of Attraction. He later entered mainstream cinema as the director of photography for Huseyn Seyidzade's historical-revolutionary film The Invincible Battalion (1965), his first major feature film.

Throughout his career, he served as cinematographer on numerous films that have become classics of Azerbaijani cinema, including Sevil, I Want Seven Sons, The Last Pass, The Day Has Passed, Nasimi, Dede Gorgud, The Bay of Joy, Babek, and many others. His artistic vision played a vital role in bringing these landmark productions to the screen.

During a 46-year career dedicated to Azerbaijani cinema, Ismayilov spent 20 feature films and 10 documentaries as a cinematographer.

As a director and screenwriter, he also created four installments of the satirical film magazine Mozalan and two animated films. His final screen production was The Trap, released in 1990. In addition to his filmmaking career, he taught at the Azerbaijan State University of Culture and Arts.

Rasim Ismayilov was awarded the honorary title of Honored Art Worker in 1976 and received the State Prize in 1978.

He passed away on March 3, 2004, at the age of 68. His book Flying Plane Trees was published posthumously.