Hilal Baydarov's film to be premiered in Switzerland

By Azernews

By Laman Ismayilova

Hilal Baydarov's film Sermon to the Fish is set to the world premiere in the 75th Locarno Film Festival's international competition, Azernews reports, citing Screendaily.

Every summer the entire Locarno city turns into the capital of international cinema, bringing the most innovative visions to the screen. This year the large-scale film festival will take place from August 3 to 13.

The Azerbaijani film is included in the international competition program and will compete for Golden Leopard Award.

The feature film is a co-production between Azerbaijan, Mexico, Switzerland, and Turkiye.

Hilal Baydarov is also a writer, DoP, editor, and producer of the film, which marks the first in his War Tales trilogy.

The story follows a soldier, who returns from war and finds everyone in his village has rotted away due to a mysterious illness. The only survivor, his sister, is also slowly rotting, with only a dog to keep her company.

The cast includes Rana Asgarova, Orkhan Iskandarli, and Huseyn Nasirov.

Baydarov made his directorial debut in 2018 with Hills Without Names before being selected for Venice with In Between Dying (2020).

The film tells the love story of Davud, a young man trying to find his "real" family, who completes his life cycle in a single day. When he does find Love, it's in the place he has always lived. But it is too late.

His third fiction feature, Crane Lantern, won the best artistic contribution award in Tokyo last year.

The filmmaker also shot a documentary When The Persimmons Grew that won a special jury award at Visions du Reel in Nyon, Switzerland, and the prize for best documentary at Sarajevo in 2019.