A film "Qaragh" (Wake up), has premiered at Nizami Cinema Centre as part of the 14th Baku International Short Film Festival.

Produced by Azerbaijani-British filmmaker Suad Gara, the film narrates about an ex-soldier suffering from PTSD who decides to visit his mother in his remote home village to find peace of mind, Azernews reports.

There, he participates in a mystical spring cleansing ritual set around a temple inside a 13th-century cemetery in the middle of the forest, where he encounters a mysterious little girl. His innocent alter-ego brings him face-to-face with his inner demons and sets him on a difficult path to acceptance and redemption.

After the premiere of the movie, director Suad Gara spoke about the history of its creation:

"I went to one of Ismayilli's villages for vacation. While walking through the countryside, I came across a cemetery dated back to the 13th century. People who lost their lives in the war were buried there. I had different feelings when I saw this scene and decided to make a film about it, as well as about the local customs and traditions. How many people live with trauma from war? When these people return from war, we call them heroes. But along with heroism, they also carry these traumas. When a person seeks peace of mind, he goes to his family and thinks that he can find peace there. But not everything is so simple... Before we started filming the film, we read a lot of interviews on this topic and had conversations with war participants. The main message of the film is that the traumas of war are never forgotten, and people are forced to live with them," said the film director.

The short film was shot by Astar Productions. The film cast includes Orkhan Iskandarli, Suri Huseyn, Rahila Shirinova, Rivka Khripunova, and others.

Note that Suad Gara is currently working on her debut feature, Hotel Diana, which was selected for the WEMW Trieste Co-Production Forum. The film won the Pop-Up Film Residency Award and the Less Is More European Development Lab.

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