Baku to host International Short Film Festival

The XIV Baku International Short Film Festival will take place in Baku on November 10-15.

The openning ceremony will take place at Nizami Cinema Center on November 10, Azernews reports.

The Culture Ministry, the State Cinema Agency are the official partners of the festival, established by the Center for Young Cinematographers,

Representatives of the Culture Ministry, diplomatic missions accredited in the country, members of the international jury as well as Azerbaijani cultural figures will take part in the opening ceremony.

The festival received 704 applications from 78 countries. The Selection Committee, consisting of film experts, included 42 films from 32 countries in the international competition program.

Nearly 17 films were included in the Asian Talents category and some 26 films joined the local competition program. The winner in this category will be handed the Golden Garnet Award.

This year, films included in the international competition program will be judged by the winner of the Q?z?l P?ri Film Award, film director, scriptwriter, Honored Artist of Azerbaijan Yaver Rzayev, whose cinema works were successfully demonstrated at the Rotterdam Film Festival, the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and the Kinoshock Film Festival as well as the laureate of the Critics' Week Award at the Cannes International Film Festival, Tokyo and Moscow International Film Festivals, film director and screenwriter Reza Mirkarimi (Iran); laureate of the Berlin, Moscow, Warsaw international film festivals, director, producer Farhat Sharipov (Kazakhstan); screenwriter, script creation expert Roelof Jan Minnebo (Netherlands).

Films in the local competition program will be judged by Honored Artist of Azerbaijan, theater and film director Mehriban Alekperzadeh; chairman of the Azerbaijani Journalists' Union Elchin Shikhly; cinematographer Nadir Mehdiyev.

The Cinemobil program (films shot on a mobile phone) will feature three cinema works.

Many interesting events will be organized as part of the non-competitive program. Thus, in collaboration with the British Council, there will be a special screening of BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) nominees. The Our Language Section (Dili bizim) will feature films by Azerbaijanis living in different countries and who have made films in the Azerbaijani language.

The Panorama Section will include films whose authors have high hopes for the future.

Films included in the competition program will be shown at the Nizami Cinema Center over the course of six festival days starting at 11:00.

The Retrospective dedicated to the 125th anniversary of Azerbaijani cinema includes five short films shot in different years – Baku Balconies (directed by Zaur Maharramov); Long Live, Goldfish (Nijat Feyzullaev); Power of Attraction (Hasan Seyidbeyli); The Astrologer's Apprentice (Arif Maharramov); Obsession (Rufat Asadov).

On the opening day of the film festival, a number of film figures will be awarded the Golden Garnet Award for their services to Azerbaijani cinema.

On November 12 at 14:00, director Reza Mirkarimi will give a master class. On November 14, graphic designer Rasul Hasani will give a lecture on “Application of artificial intelligence technologies in cinema. The lecture starts at 16:00.

The award ceremony will take place on November 15,at 19:00

Media partners of the event are Azernews.Az, Trend.Az, Day.Az, Milli.Az.