CELLULOID FOR SOME, THE RED CARPET FOR OTHERS

The career of director Ilqar Safat began with documentary films. His films "The Roots of the Sky", "Grandson of the Mountain", "On the Lush Pastures" and "The Spirit Living in the Stone" have been shown in various towns throughout the world and awarded prizes at many international film festivals. When Ilqar Safat decided to start making feature films and set about working on the screenplay for the film "The Precinct", he never even surmised that his work would be nominated for an "Oscar" award and that he would receive a number of international prizes, including the Hollywood Young Artist Awards and the California Golden Awards.

The director Ilqar SAFAT spoke to the magazine Regionplus about how it all started, about the prospects for and future of Azerbaijani film-making as well as many other things. 

- Ilqar, you grew up in the Soviet period when most children dreamed of becoming cosmonauts or footballers. It would be interesting to learn what you wanted to be.

- I used to like reading books about adventures and travels to faraway countries. I dreamed of becoming a writer. I began to write novels, short histories, and was interested in photography while I was still at school. I made amateur films on an 8-millimetre camera. Then I took up music, writing songs and poetry. I adored the cinema even more. I used to rush to the nearby cinema to see the latest films. When I was about 15 years old, I started to find cinematography interesting, and I began to read specialist literature on the history of the cinema and various articles by film critics.

I began to watch serious films, classics, films by Federico Fellini, Luchino Visconti and Vittorio de Sica that my coevals thought were old-fashioned. At the age of 16 I had made a choice of profession and definitely knew that I would become a director.

- Why didn't you want to be an actor? You must have wanted the glory, the fame and the army of fans?

- I have never had any desire to be an actor. Although I did have to do some acting several times, when I was filmed in the diploma work of my friend Fuad Sabanov and in the films of Moscow friends. But that was just a bit of fun for me, a sort of experiment, but nothing serious. I turned down offers to act in films many times, but mostly because of the plots; if the director and screenplay had been good, then why would there have been a problem?

- Directing was always something serious for you…

- That's right. But it took me many years to get where I wanted to go. It turned out that, when I left school, I entered the Moscow Chemical and Technological Institute, but I left the institute before I had even been there a year. I joined a drama studio in Moscow and began to go to showings of classic films at the VGIK [the All-Union State Cinematography Institute]. That was in 1988. When I returned to Baku, I got myself a job at the "Azerbaijanfilm" studio.

Two years later, what were complicated times for our country started. The Soviet Union began to collapse and the film studio came tumbling down with it, so I had to give up on my favourite interest for many years. I decided to further pursue my education and entered the Russian language and literature faculty at Azerbaijan's Pedagogical University. Ten years later, in the year 2000, I went to Moscow to become a student on the higher courses for scriptwriters and directors. My lecturer was one of the most prominent Russian directors, Vladimir Khotinenko. Two years later I went to Khabarovsk at the invitation of the Far Eastern Newsreel Studio, where I made the film "Roots of the Sky" which was about Udege [a people living in Russia's Primorskiy Kray] Shamanism.

- When you returned to your homeland, you made the film "The Precinct", which was subsequently nominated for the American film award the "Oscar" in the "best foreign film" category. What do you think the secret of your film's success was?

- I think the reason was that it was a very sincere film and very personal. I tried to recount a story that was very important to me, to share ideas that I believe in and create a world, in which it would be both fascinating and rather frightening to exist. "The Precinct" was the first mystical thriller among our films. As far as I know, this genre did not exist in our country before. This possibly evoked interest as well. But I saw how audiences in different countries viewed this film, and the reaction to it was always the same; film-goers invariably found the film interesting.

As far as I could, I tried to enter the world of the subconscious of its main character, to peep into his inner world with all its fears and despair. I like this film very much. In it I tried to explain ideas that are very important to me. I also hold the film "The Precinct" dear because it was the last film on which Vagif Ibrahimoglu and I worked together. He played one of the main parts, which turned out to be his last film role.

- When you were a child, what film made a particular impression on you?

- That was the film "Chapayev" by the Vasiliev brothers, which I watched for the first time on a black and white television. I was also very impressed by the films of Charlie Chaplin, Max Linder and the picture "Earth" by the director Alexander Dovzhenko. I loved to watch old Azerbaijani films like "Mother-in-law", "The Cloth Peddler" and "If Not This, Then That One!". At the cinema I watched everything that was shown - crime films, historical films, melodramas and horror films. I liked the bewitching effect of the big screen. It was like being plunged into a dream.

- Ilqar, today most of the up-and-coming directors believe that it is not obligatory to learn film craft - it is sufficient just to have a little bit of talent and good luck. How do you feel about that?

- Yes, it is very easy to make a film today, and it seems to young people that they don't need anything except money to do that. When we started, the situation was quite different. We dreamt of making our own films. That was what was most important for us, and we did not know anything about film festivals. Today young people do not know very much about the cinema, but they all know about the film festivals. For us the celluloid (the 35-mm celluloid film - author) was important, now the red carpet is what is important.

- Tell us something about your new film "The Old City". When shall we be able see it?

- The film will be ready by the spring this year. The film was commissioned by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism from the "Azerbaijanfilm" studio. I wrote the screenplay in collaboration with Tahmina Rafaella, a talented young actress and playwright. The plot was Tahmina's idea and she played the main role in the film. Remarkable artistes acted in the film like Mehriban Zaki, Firdosi Atakisiyev, Elmira Sabanova, Murad Yagizarov, Vidadi Hasanov, Midhad Aydin, Anar Xalilov and others. This is the story of unrequited love, when the actual situation turns out to be stronger than feelings.

- You make serious films. And in real life you are a calm and restrained person. Would you like to try out the comedy genre for yourself?

-.Fellini regarded comedians as the benefactors of mankind. This is a very great gift, the ability to make people laugh, for our life is a tragic one. I like this genre, and possibly I will make a comedy film one day. But I think it will be a specific comedy with elements of the absurd, with its very own sense of humour.

- What do you think about the present state of Azerbaijani cinematography? In your view, does contemporary Azerbaijani cinema have a future?

- I am optimistic about the situation in our film world. I very much want to believe in the development of Azerbaijani film-making; at least, all the prerequisites are there for that. Over the last few years, new films have appeared, as well as new directors who are creating films that are fresh in their perception and attitude. These films are entered into international film festivals and win prizes, which naturally pleases me. Many works are being premiered, many new names are appearing and a smooth change-over of generations is occurring in film-making. But for this process to progress more actively, our film industry needs to develop, a market needs to emerge and chains of cinemas need to appear, not just in Baku, but in the regions so that audiences can see what films are being made in our country. Naturally, the film studio needs to be equipped with the latest technology because film-making techniques are now a long way ahead.

- What was the last film you watched in the cinema?

- (thinks for a moment) I don't even remember when that was. I think it was "The Hobbit". I like Peter Jackson's series of films very much. It was interested to assess the techniques, to see the computer special effects and to return to favourite characters. On the whole, I like intellectual films. I like films in which human feelings are laid bare and which contain a particular idea. But, when they are made in a talented way, I also find spectacular genre films interesting. This is why the screen exists, to immerse you in a dream and sometimes to awaken in you more profound levels of perceiving reality. The dream, the fairy-tale, poetry, this is what the film-maker should derive his strength from.

- What are you like on set? Do you think you are easy to work with?

- (smiles) None of the actors have ever complained so far. It is always quiet and calm on my sets. I start off by trying to create a trusting and open atmosphere of partnership and cooperation. I try to avoid people who cause conflicts, who interfere in the creative process. Unfor-tunately, you always come across people like this in a group. But that is a "sickness" that can be healed if it is not allowed to get out of hand.

- Are any of the members of your family involved in film making or are you the only "film enthusiast" for the moment?

- Until recently, I thought it was only me and my brother, the producer Nariman Mammadov, but then I learned that my grandmother, Nadejda Mammadova, was in charge of the montage workshop at the Cafar Cabbarli film studio in the 1930s. I found an old, scratched photograph in which she is sitting at the montage bench. My grandmother was a veteran of labour and was awarded the "Badge of Honour" order. She was invited to the Kremlin for the presentation of such a high award and received her order from the hands of Mikhail Kalinin. My grandmother's sister, Anna Strizhova, was well known as a film editor in those years. You can see her name in the titles of well-known Azerbaijani films such as "The Cloth Peddler". So it's easy to see where I got my passion for film from.

- Besides directing films, you are also interested in the theatre. Please tell us something about the part this has played in your career.

- Two years ago I adapted Jane Austin's "Pride and Prejudice" for the stage at the Russian Drama Theatre. Last year I produced the one-act single production of "The Artist and His Shadow" with People's Artiste of Azerbaijan Murad Yagizarov in the main role. I love the theatre very much and I have a particularly soft spot for it.