PARADOXES OF A SCRIPTWRITER

Ever since early childhood, Emil Quliyev dreamed of becoming a famous film director. In the evenings, he watched movies on television, while in the daytime he sponged an amateur film camera off his father, invented scenes and filmed his friends. Towards finishing school, however, he decided to follow in his parents' footsteps and entered the law faculty of Moscow University of the Interior Ministry, though the underlying passion for cinema continued to live in his heart. In an interview with R+, the young and talented director said: "One day I realized that this obsession would not go away and decided to try my hand at directing without abandoning jurisprudence".

- Emil, if you had to choose between cinema and jurisprudence someday, what would you opt for?

- Why should I choose just one thing? By education, I am an investigating officer, a police captain, and I like my job. In our family, all men work in law enforcement bodies. It's simply that I was an inveterate film fan already when I was a kid, and later, in the days of my youth. As far as I remember, while studying in Moscow, I spent all my free time in the cinema. I watched everything: comedy, drama, action, classics. For me, it was a window into another life - an incredibly interesting one full of adventures, emotions and feelings. When I returned to Baku, I began to construct plots of future scenarios, writing interesting stories from my life and the lives of my friends and acquaintances in a notebook, doing it in the evenings after work. One day, while meeting with friends, I got acquainted with young Azerbaijani film director Zaur Qasimli. We got in conversation, and I told him about my passion for cinema. Zaur approved one short-film plot from my notebook and proposed that I wrote a film script based on this plot, which I did in just one day. Thus, there came into being the film "Incognito", in which I participated as a scriptwriter and a producer. The movie was shown in competitive programmes at the 7th International Short Film and Animation Festival "Vision" (Keme-rovo, Russia), the International Youth Short Film and Animation Festival "Metres" (Tver, Russia) and the Open-Air Film Festival (Lviv, Ukraine).

- What is "Incognito" about?

- The film is based on a true story from my life. It tells about a young girl, Emilia, who has got tired of slow-paced and dull life. She dreams of a prince and true love. One day a stranger rings the doorbell and leaves a bunch of flowers at her door. The end of the story is unexpected and somewhat confusing. "Incognito" was selected for the Short Film Corner competition of the Cannes Film Festival and won the Audience Award at the Open-Air Film Festival in Lviv. When the film was edited, I thought to myself: the first step is always the hardest and that the script could have been written better. In short, I was unhappy with the result...

- Your short film "Paradox" has been watched by a huge number of social network users...

- It was shot without any preparation and multiple takes. I spied a story line, which was included in the "Paradox" plot, from the Internet. I wrote the script in just a few hours and found a suitable location for filming in the Sabuncu District of Baku. I went there with my friends on that very day, found "actors" from among the locals and agreed on the fee. Note that only amateur actors performed in our film. We came there with a camera the next morning. The shooting started at 12 noon, at 1 p.m. we had a lunch break, at 6 p.m. the shooting was completed, and at 9 p.m. the film was edited. Thus, we managed to shoot a reasonably good short film in two days. "Paradox" is a humorous story about how a 20-manat banknote of a tourist, who accidentally wandered into a dilapidated hotel, relieves several local residents from multiple debts. "Paradox" won two Best Cinematography awards and a Best Film diploma at a short film festival in New York.

- Which of your films are particularly dear to you?

- It is difficult to answer this question... I think this is, first of all, a social short film titled "Cry for Mom", which touches on the subject of irresponsible and heartless mothers who abandon their babies. Another film that is very dear to me is the short film "Hope", which was distinguished with various awards, including Grand Prix at the 5th Independent Short Film Festival "Shorts" in Tula, Russia, and the Best Film Director prize at the 8th Varesh International Film Festival in Mazandaran, Iran. "Hope" took part in the official programme of the Kinolikbez Auteur Cinema Festival in Barnaul, Russia, passed the qualifying round at the Asian International Short Film Festival in Seoul, and participated in the official selection at the 38th Film Festival in Tehran. And, of course, the "Paradox" movie...

- Emil, haven't you thought of shooting a full-length feature film?

- I started shooting my first feature film a few days ago. Its working title is "Mental". It is a social drama, the plot of which is taken from life. It tells about an Azerbaijani family, which lives depending on public opinion and suffers from it. Unfor-tunately, there are too many such families in our country. Such people are not free to choose, they are worried by what their neighbours and relatives would say and live in a closed world which erodes their souls. They do not even realize to what extent they are blind-folded and how deeply they are mired in the "public" mentality. I do not wish to disclose all the details of our film and can only say that after watching it, people will certainly think about how harmful and sometimes devastating for us and our children are these unwritten laws and taboos set by society.

- Tell us about your team.

- These are my friends: photography director Rauf Qurbanaliyev, sound producer Rasim Mehdiyev, film editor Askar Rahimov, composer Xayal Mammadov and others. By the way, I studied together with Xayal at Moscow University of the Interior Ministry. While a child, he studied at a music school, but when we met, he did not consider himself a musician. I managed to overpersuade him, and he wrote very beautiful compositions for many of our films.

- In your opinion, what modern cinema should be like to be hailed with enthusiasm both in Azerbaijan and abroad?

- It should be high-quality and honest. I have noticed that most of young Azerbaijani film-makers try to copy Hollywood movies. They come up with different gimmicks, which have already been used in American cinema, and which, they think, are going to make our domestic films more modern and "watchable". Is this necessary? Does this surprise the sophisticated audience? Rather, I think it is necessary to shoot movies which pull at the heart-strings of people, awaken the best feelings in them and make them better. Cinema is a tool for culture, education and propaganda. According to some estimates, the impact of cinema on the minds of people is superior to the effect of newspapers and books combined. I think Azerbaijani film-makers should recall our classics and try to focus on the plotline and concept rather than special effects.

- If you were offered to make a film about Baku and its inhabitants, what would this film be about?

- I have a finished tragicomedy scenario and have already thought up the film's name - "Mammad". This is a story about a good-natured guy who thinks that if he had money, his life would change for the better. But the reality is just the opposite. I will be happy to shoot this movie if I can find a sponsor.

- What kind of films do you like as a spectator?

- I like different films, except for Indian cinema. I have a special attitude to the drama. My favourite movie is "Schindler's List" by Steven Spielberg. He, too, began with short films, and he has no special education in film directing. All of Spielberg's works are perfect! One can watch them many times over without getting tired. I want to learn how to make films at this level. To my mind, no-one has excelled Spielberg in world cinema thus far…