First Baku tourism film festival to include 78 films
By Nigar Orujova
The first Baku International Tourism Film Festival (BITFF) will include 78 films by 74 directors from 31 countries in its contest program.
The Festival will be held in Azerbaijan on November 20-24.
The non-profit cultural event, organized by the Culture and Tourism Ministry, aims at promoting films on tourism and endorsing the development of domestic and international tourism, as well as encouraging the movies' authors .
The screenings will be held on November 20-24 at the Nizami cinema center in Baku.
The Festival will open on November 20 by a film starring the world-famous French actor Gerard Depardieu, "Return to the Caucasus".
About 215 films by 140 directors from 38 countries were sent to the festival. The contest program also includes films by 14 Azerbaijani directors.
Films from the U.S., Germany, Austria, UAE, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Georgia, Croatia, Iran, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Turkey, Ukraine, and Greece will participate in the contest program.
Winners will be determined in seven categories, including cultural tourism, nature tourism and ecotourism, commercial tourism, sports tourism, marine tourism, as well as tours and expeditions.
No restrictions are set for the length of the films.
About 15 films are presented in the "Country, Region, City" category, 16 films are presented in the "Culture, Traditions" category, 9 films will compete in the "Extreme Tourism" category, 13 films are presented in the "Ecotourism" category, 10 films are presented in the "Advertising Films" category, and 15 films will compete in the "TV Films" category.
The festival will also draw the attention of the world to Azerbaijan's tourism potential. The Festival is expected to help the films gain a wider international audience.
The event also seeks to emphasize the tourism potential of Azerbaijan as one of the international centers of a historical and cultural heritage.
The holders of the top three places in each category will be awarded with money. The best film of the festival will be presented with the Grand Prix and a money award of 4,000 euros.
Movies will be evaluated by an international jury, consisting of cinematographers as well as tourism experts.
45 foreign guests, including the directors of the films presented in the contest program and heads of the tourism films festivals held in different countries were invited to the Festival which is expected to become an annual event.
The festival is sponsored by Garant Holding, Nar Mobile and JW Marriott Absheron.