THE CITY OF LIGHT

Lala Akhundova began filming this documentary in the summer of 2010 and finished it precisely two years later, in the summer of 2012. A graduate of the Baku State University and the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Lala received her PhD in political science at age 25, but then, at some point in her life, she suddenly realised that she wanted to make films. Perhaps she was driven by her childhood dream 'to tell the whole world about Baku'! How? Through the art of cinema, which is a shortcut to the hearts and minds of people, she thought. The daughter of the television director Ramiz Akhundov and the national writer Elmira Akhundova soon found herself in the workshops of Pavel Finn, Vladimir Khotinenko and Vladimir Fenchenko to take lessons on screenwriting.

Her short films, such as the two-minute feature film Semya (Family, 2003), which was awarded The Smallest Stalker Award in Russia, and the thirteen-minute Bulochnaya—Konditerskaya (Bakery—Confectionery) filmed in France as a student, have been commended for the originality and purity of ideas on the essence of things. Her teacher V. Khotinenko later said that Lala was "certainly smart and talented". Encouraged by the success of her preceding films, Lala made a colour feature film Drug (Friend), which was also demonstrated at international festivals in Africa, Greece, Italy, Korea, Russia, USA, and Chile. The plot revolves around a Man and his Horse, which was linked to his rider by bonds of trust stronger than people connected by bonds of love. This is an interesting psychological study of the inextricable link between the Nature and a Man. Lala's new work is a documentary film dubbed in both Russian and Azerbaijani with English subtitles.

According to the prominent Azerbaijani screenwriter Ramiz Fataliyev, the film can be demonstrated without a voiceover to make the audience comprehend the mystery and beauty of Baku's soul, so lovingly cherished and depicted on the screen by the film crew, without being distracted by the author's feelings and thoughts. The crew includes director and screenwriter Lala Akhundova, camera operator Yuri Varnovsky, music composer Salman Gambarov, sound producer Denis Tsukanov, line producer Azad Akhundov, editor of the Azerbaijani script Dilara Vekilova and voice talent Masma Aghaverdiyeva. In other words, before the film hit the screen and the audience watched it, a considerable number of people worked hard to make it for release.

Dream coming true

Lala is an active and purposeful person. She praises her city as much as she feels and understands it, avoiding the use of trivial phrases and clichés generated by the promoters of numerous tourist advertisements about Baku. Leaving behind a traditional presentation of the idea, she found her own language for the narrative: a detailed and seemingly impartial way of storytelling, used to take the audience for a gentle and leisure virtual walk through the most hidden corners of the city, where many of us, even the natives of Baku, have perhaps never been. Following the camera, we, along with the film crew, become immersed in the measured rhythm of the city life, visiting places far away from all routine tourist paths! For example, a synagogue service on a Saturday morning, or a bakery with a tandoor, where we can see how raw dough pasted on the wall of a huge clay oven swells and grows in size before it finally becomes a churek! It seems that the camera, spotting the baked bread through the fingers of the baker, can convey even the smell of it! Camera turns into an invisible witness of the lifestyle of this large and such a different city! The city of architectural and social contrasts! So unusual and so different! The city, which has been home for peoples of different nationalities and denominations for centuries. They live here, but preserve their own lifestyle, culture and traditions of their ancestors through honouring and adopting the culture and traditions of their neighbours.

Through the ages

Through a series of associations so vividly demonstrated in the film, we are now taken for a time travel to the distant past, when the shore of the Caspian and the streets of Baku used to be favourite walking paths for Vladimir Mayakovsky, Sergey Yesenin, Vyacheslav Ivanov, Boris Pilnyak, Huseyn Javid, Jalil Mammadguluzadeh, Jafar Jabbarly...

We are back to future, a hundred years later, to year of 2010. Just one day in the magnificent and mosaic life of Baku! The city is the same as a hundred years ago, yet it is a different city! The city of sharp contrasts. The city, where skyscrapers, hanging over the old houses, are showing off their superiority. The city, where the windows of shops and prestigious cafes are illuminated with attractive advertising; the city where the mornings, like a hundred years ago, begin with calls to prayer resounding from the minaret of the Old City mosque and flying of pigeons released from the loft. From now on, these white birds symbolising peace will accompany us throughout the film, assuming the role of our guides. They are happy to show us the most hidden corners of the city, waddling along the fountains or sitting on benches next to the rest of the dwellers... They will return to their master only by sunset. By the way, the master is quite a real person. Let us introduce you a native of the Old City (Icherishahar), Zakir Adnayev. Lala calls him an urban philosopher and simply a bright and kind person, the custodian of the code of honour, which is so characteristic of the bearers of the centuries-old urban culture. Alas, Zakir is no longer with us. Lala Akhundova pays tribute and expresses her gratitude to everyone who has somehow been involved in the making of the film. She also warmly mentions the name of Anar Mammadkhanov, who assisted the crew from the very beginning. Unfortunately, he is no longer with us either!

Between sunrise, sunset and midnight is a breath of the huge city with its uneasy life and people... This is just a chronicle, where we can see a plenty of usual suspects, including teahouses, bakeries with a tandoor, narrow streets, small shops and big bazaars, oilrigs, a pier, a white steamer, pedestrians, students, artists, architectural eclecticism of the 19th–20th centuries, a bridge between the old and new architectural styles, and so on... We can see different ethnic and social groups, the works they do tirelessly everyday, their lifestyle. All of this is presented as it is, without flamboyant glamour and embellishment, without unnecessary metaphors, pathetic words and parallels. This is a film about a city, where the truth of life allows people to remain people in any circumstances.

The city

Glorified repeatedly by artists, writers, poets, cinematographers, Baku never ceases to amaze, delight, puzzle and attract its residents and guests with a possibility of discoveries. It lives and works, becomes sad and laughs, accepts guests and loves. Baku is like a person who has many plans to do, hence waking up early at dawn and going to sleep late at night under the soothing splashes of water and songs of Muslim Magomayev. The city is tired and it needs to rest before it wakes up again to the sounds of adhan...

The film is made as a tough but truthful documentary statement of facts taken from our daily lives. Free of sentiments and speculative emotional moments, it is yet a beautiful and visually expressive presentation of details caught by camera operator Yuri Varnovsky, who is known for Rasim Ismayilov's feature film about Baku based on Rustam Ibrahimbekov's script Structure of the Moment.

The City of Light is an impartial and unobtrusive view of a person who loves Baku and gives the audience a chance to judge what it sees on the screen. Truly captured, one day in the life of the metropolis awakens different feelings, thoughts and, of course, relations. It is not by chance that the film ends with a famous song of Muslim Magomayev about Baku; the song, where we all declare our love to Baku by watching Lala Akhundova's The City of Light.

The premiere demonstration of the documentary, made by an international team of professionals from Azerbaijan, Russia, Georgia, was held on April 25 in the hall of the Union of Theatrical Workers of Azerbaijan.