"I'M A DIRECTOR, THIS IS MY JOB!"

A standard conversation with a director is always an attempt to understand the situation in theatre or film through an analysis of his or her personality. The more famous and more talented the interviewee, the more interesting it is for us to learn about him. Javid Imamverdiyev has been well known as a successful director, screenwriter and producer. He can be proud of his professional and creative portfolio for his contributions into poetry, music, as well as KVN, cinema and theatre performances. Javid Imamverdiyev is a laureate of the Taraggi medal. He has since been working as chief director of the Azerbaijan State Academic Musical Theatre.

"Prior to our interview with you, we had a conversation about professionalism. Analysing the new appointments at the Ministry of Culture, you said that the period of amateurs was over. What about theatres, particularly your theatre?"

"When it comes to theatre management, we have one of the most professional directors, Honoured Artist Aligismat Lalaev, who had long been the head of the Arts Department under Minister Polad Bülbüloglu, during the Golden Age of the Ministry of Culture. I have been in the profession for thirty years. We have a wonderful chief conductor, an excellent chorus master, an excellent chief choreographer and a very good technical team at our theatre. We have a talented cast of both young and middle-aged actors, masters of the stage. In general, when I came here three years ago, I found myself in a fantastic creative atmosphere. Again, as far as the professionalism is concerned, one has to teach someone and to learn from someone. It's the same in other theatres. Recently, we celebrated the anniversary of Aleksandr Yakovlevich Sharovsky. I've been away from the Russian Drama Theatre for some years. But I have worked closely with them until then. To be honest, I've had a lot of fun with the cast there.

"I haven't been to Azdrama (Azerbaijan State Drama Theatre, R+) for a long time, but I know for sure that the now late Azer Pasha Neymatov was a maestro of theatre art. There are interesting things going on at the Theatre of Young Spectators. My good friend and talented director Gurban Masimov is the principal director of the Puppet Theatre. No, I think that everything is fine with the theatres, unlike the cinema!"

"What are your assessment criteria for theatres then?"

"Audience. For example, today we have two performances of Bakhtiyar. And people bought tickets for both the daytime and evening performances. In other words, they demonstrated their support to our work."

"Maybe it was the title of the play, memories about the eponymous film, and Tofig Guliyev's music that attracted them?"

"We premiered the play in May last year, but they still find it interesting."

"Going back to theatre management, the principal director is more about art or about craft?"

"I'll put it this way: I've always told actors that from a director's point of view, they work for me, but as a principal director, I work for them. I think my mission is to build bridges between the management and the creative team, trying to solve their problems through the management. But there's a complete mutual understanding between us. I am also responsible for choosing the overall repertoire of the theatre, which is bilingual, both in Russian and Azerbaijani. We opened the current season with Anamın kitabı (My Mother's  Book) in English. Our repertoire also includes the classical Azerbaijani and world-class operettas such as O olmasın, bu olsun (If Not That One, Then This One), Arşın mal alan (The Cloth Peddler) and Silva. We have an excellent production based on music by Rauf Hajiyev – Кавказская племянница (Caucasian Niece). Productions by Jannet Salimova, Ali Usubov and Asker Askerov are performed on our stage. There is a very strong team of young stage directors in the theatre. For example, Irada Gozalova, just to mention one. Her productions in our repertoire include Kimdir müqəssir (Who's the Culprit), 999-cu gecə (999th Night), the play in English I mentioned earlier and an amazing performance of Lara Martin's Jazz Club, premiered last season and starring the Honoured Artist Nargiz Kerimova. My old friend Samir Gulamov had staged Dedication to Notre Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo even before the pandemic. Last season, he produced a play as a homage to the mothers of soldiers fallen in the 44-day Patriotic War.

"I have already staged two productions myself—Bakhtiyar and Поверь моей песне (Believe My Song) based upon the music of Tofig Guliyev and Polad Bülbüloglu, respectively. God willing, I will also stage the third one. Everything is very interesting. In general, I have known the repertoire of our theatre since I was four years old. I remember perfectly how my grandfather used to take me to various performances here. So I know O olmasın, bu olsun or Arşın mal alan almost by heart since my childhood.  Later on, when I grew up, I chose the Russian Drama Theatre for myself. I started going there often but never forgot about the musical theatre. But it's a question of individual taste!"

"Who do you consider yourself the most—a creative person or a professional?"

"I consider myself a strong director, who has made through all the stages of the craft. I started in KVN and on television. Then I made two feature films and more than ten documentaries. But at the same time, you can't have one without the other in academic theatre."

"At the beginning of our conversation, you said that the situation is much better in theatre than in cinema."

"Yes, that's what we have today. But I don't want to talk about it because I am no longer a film producer. But I headed the documentary film studio Yaddash of the Ministry of Culture for many years. But I do not want to part with the film industry; I am a board member of the Azerbaijan Union of Cinematographers. Last year I produced another documentary, The King of Weddings, about Samed Samedov; the year before that I produced The Voice of the Screen, about our legendary TV announcer Rafig Huseynov.

"I don't know what's going on in the cinema at the moment... Rather, I know that something is wrong. I hope for some positive developments with the updated staff of the Ministry of Culture. During fifteen years I was a film producer, there have been seven state-run studios: Azerbaijanfilm, Yaddaş and Salnama for documentary films, a studio for animated films, Debut, Mozalan and a separate studio for dubbing films. They have made a lot of interesting films thanks to the dozens of professionals working there. As far as I know, they no longer work, unfortunately. Even before the pandemic, I came up with the project On il bir arada (Eleven Years Together) for the Cinema Day. It consisted of small clips showing what we had done in the past ten years, one from each studio. I was truly impressed by the volume of work those studios had done in that period. These films have a life of their own, with occasional reviews. Many of my films still receive royalties. It means that they are being watched. But, unfortunately, there is nothing similar I can tell you about. I receive periodical calls from old fellows selecting films for international festivals, but I do not have anything to offer them myself. My colleagues have the same situation."

"Is this the reason why the theatre is more interesting?"

"No. Let me offer you a comparative case... I worked in a documentary film studio for almost fifteen years. They produced 15-20 films a year, but as a director I could only make one or two films during that time at best. It was quite logical. So I used to engage in creativity business for three months, and the rest of the time I was an official, or, well, a film producer. In the theatre, creativity is a round-the-clock business. A week after we staged Bakhtiyar, I began rehearsals of a new performance, and now I'm about to start a new production, studying the literary material. At the same time I started working on a play dedicated to the centennial anniversary of the national leader Heydar Aliyev. I hope that my new productions will be as successful as the previous ones."

"What are your criteria for choosing a repertoire, for staging a particular work: the demand of the age or your own intentions, insight?"

"There are many factors actually. First of all, as the chief director, I think we should bring back the classical Azerbaijani pop music. That is why I started with Tofig Guliyev, followed by Polad Bülbüloglu. Secondly, my performances are supposed to convey certain messages to the audience. This is true for all my productions, whether in theatre, cinema or television. I left the television because there was no longer a message I wanted to convey, or my message did no longer fit the format for today's television. The basis of any creative work is the message one wishes to convey to the audience. And it does not matter whether it's a borrowed work or something of one's own."

"So it has little to do with your job; it's just your own personal predilection."

"Yes, but I believe that one should do only what one loves. But there is another important point. Nowadays, when I approach any dramatic material or come up with a new idea, I try it on our troupe first. Moreover, I want to adjust the script and staging for a specific actor because we do have a great many good actors. Suffice it to mention the Popular Artists Ilham Namig Kamal, Afag Bashirgizy, Parviz Mammadrzayev, Honoured Artists Nargiz Kerimova, Farid Aliyev, Naida Orujeva... There are also many young talented artists in the theatre, including Mehriban Zaliyeva, Rauf Babayev, Ulviyya Aliyeva, Emil Heydarov, Aidan Hasanova, Shaban Jafarov...

"We also have the oldest actor on the Azerbaijani stage, Boris Fyodorovich Grafkin, now in his 86th year. Last year, when I was working on the play Believe My Song, I decided to call his character by his own name. While I was reading the play of wonderful author Michael Shcherbachenko, which had been in the library of our theatre for almost 40 years, it became clear for me that the cast would be Farid Aliyev, Nargiz Kerimova, Emil Heydarov, Mehriban Zaliyeva and Rauf Babayev. And when I got to the character of Boris Fyodorovich, I immediately decided to name him after the actor. Both Polad Bülbüloglu and the director of the theatre praised the idea. Sometimes the opposite is also true – you read the script and realise that there are no actors in the troupe who can play the characters. An actor has to fit the character!"

"Can a director be an unambitious person?"

"No way to come to this profession, I mean not only directing, but all creative professions in general, without being ambitious."

"Do you agree that ambitions can be healthy and unhealthy?"

"Of course. The healthy one is when one wishes to do something better than others. The unhealthy one is doing something selfishly, as if asking the others, including the audience, to be contend with what one can offer. That said, the moment of recognition is very important to a creative person. Officials often ask why the titles of People's Artist and Honoured Artist are so important to us, there's no such thing in the US. Yes, but in the US there is a completely different system of pay for actors and directors. Many of my friends, colleagues and I dream of becoming People's Artists. We were brought up on this culture, on these traditions. My grandfather was a prominent statesman in Azerbaijan in the Soviet times, and he used to pronounce the following two titles with aspiration: academician and people's artist. He realised that both were a pinnacle of creativity."

"You mean recognition?"

"Not even recognition, but evidence that one has achieved something in science or in the arts. That's how I was brought up – to set goals and to try to achieve them throughout my life journey. For example, my father became a professor when he was 36. Nevertheless, when asked what he was, he would always respond that he was a doctor. Although he had been a renowned academician, head of a department at the medical university and a member of parliament by that time. A profession, a craft are important in the first place. It's the same in my case. I am a filmmaker, it is my profession, and I am proud of it, and I cherish it. I have two professions - I am a professional songwriter and director. They both help me say something to my audience, convey my aspirations and experiences to people."

"What other personal qualities should a chief director have apart from ambition? Do you think a chief director is another level of responsibility?"

"Responsibility must be in everything, always."

"Responsibility for the end result?"

"For everything. I was brought up on the idea that a man should be able to take responsibility, make decisions and take care of his loved ones. Loved ones means not only the family membes. I believe that I should help my cast in obtaining titles, some benefits, at least to be a kind of bridge between them and the management, the Ministry of Culture."

"What about the rights of the chief director? Are there any new opportunities for you?"

"Let's put it this way: having such a team at my discretion, including the choir, orchestra, ballet, cast of actors, means happiness, you know? Going back to cinema, I had to wait for an order. In the end, all I could do was being able to make two feature films. Making documentaries was easier though. I could not make films even though I had my own studio, camera, editing room, lights, sound, and so on. People asked me: why don't you start shooting? And my reply was that I had to fix the associated financial issues. But in the theatre, the staff members receive salaries from the state, while I have an opportunity to work. Above all, it's the direct duty of me and my colleagues. That's what happiness is. Not waiting for your chance! But in cinema, I had to wait for years. Now I have theatre in my life. When I realised I'd be fifty soon, that was three years ago, and if I don't go into the theatre now, which I've always raved about, that will never happen. Again, I'm perfectly happy because it's very important for a person of the arts to know that somebody out there needs your work. And that's what happens to me in the theatre."

"By the way, on the subject of 'need'. You talked about the message, your message to audiences. But there's a problem: when there is always a risk of being misunderstood."

"That's a difficult question, I don't know. At least all my messages reach their destination. Apparently, I am a happy person, or so it seems to me. But I do have a feedback loop with my viewers, including my Internet page, special websites and creative meetings. People watch my films, go to my performances, and listen to my songs and poems. Of course, it's impossible to please everyone, but the audience understands what I have to say. What were my messages in Bakhtiyar and Believe My Song? That everyone should do what he can do best. Be devoted to your profession and job, not run after easy money.  It was a moment of inner debate with myself - to go into television, where it was easier to make money, or... not to run after money, but to focus on art, to devote myself to my cause."

"What is so special about a musical theatre? What's the difference between opera and ballet, where the performers sing and dance too?"

"I do not want to work in opera at all, it's not my cuppa tea. I may drop a visit to opera as a spectator, but not as a director. I am not that experienced in this area, to be honest. But I would love to stage a circus performance—a dream to come true. I'd like to unite two parallel stories, the old Soviet circus and Cirque du Soleil, two classics, to make it theatrical and do something of my own. You know, there's a graveyard of unwritten poems, unproduced films... Fortunately, there's no graveyard of unproduced productions yet."

"And what about the message in this case: semantic meaning or the reason behind the whole thing?"

"Semantics of the performance. For me, the most important criterion for perceiving any work of art is when I become a spectator. Sitting in a cinema, in a theatre and listening to a song, I, as a professional, start looking for any flaws, any lapses here and there. I start thinking of staging the performance in a different way, or changing the cast distribution, and so on. But when I watch a performance as a regular spectator, forgetting about my professional duties, I get captivated by what's happening on stage or on the screen, then it all works out .

"I really want to make a film about Rauf Babayev, the People's Artist of Azerbaijan, who has long been the lead singer of the legendary band Gaya. I have already made a film about the band itself, but I still haven't decided for myself how to present this material, although I have already figured out what message I want to get across. Rauf Babayev died during the pandemic, but not because he fell ill with the coronavirus, but because he did nothing. He made it to 80, worked steadily, but then… Perhaps the same message of dedication is relevant here. After all, sometimes the message doesn't change. Eldar Ryazanov, my favourite director, told the same story with all his films, Rasim Ojagov had the same message in all his works.

"As Bulat Okujava said, the main mission of an artist at all times is to tell about himself. In my songs, poems, films and plays, I say something about myself, about what I care about, about what matters to me."

"Remember the famous line from Vladimir Menshov's film that in 20 years' time there will be no theatre, no cinema, just television?"

"And, by the way, it has been completely disproved by time: the first thing to disappear is television! It has become uninteresting! The television I once fell in love with, with KVN, What? Where? When? KVN is gone..."

"Maybe it's the club's fault, not the television's? "

"No, if you go to any school in Baku you will see that KVN is alive. I have been to KVN championships. In Ukraine, before the war, I also watched teams performing. So the reality is that it was television that brought KVN to its present state. Television, cinema and theatre should lead the viewers, not follow them. I strongly believe in this. Television, on the other hand, works for the needs of the public.

"What about the theatre?"

"It's all good. Directors are working, trying to breathe thoughts into what they are doing and lead the audience. It is the same in cinema, when they make movies. We have many very good directors. They have made dozens of excellent films so far. For example, a few years ago Ulviyya Konul made Həddən artıq uyğunluq (Too Much Compliance), a wonderful film, Pretty Woman with a new twist.  Who says we have big problems with the staff: I do not feel that. We have many actors, directors, sound directors, lighting designers, but they need to be taken care of and nurtured so that they don't leave for other professions."