EUROVISION-2012 WILL BE REMEMBERED FOR A LONG TIME

Preparations for the prestigious international song contest Eurovision-2012 are in full swing in Azerbaijan. And this big event is just around the corner. The construction of the Baku Crystal Hall, where the show will take place in May of this year, is nearing completion, and the working group of the organizing committee of the contest continues to shoot Eurovision promotional videos. Our R+ correspondent spoke about preparations for and characteristics of the future contest, the draw and many other things with the general producer of Helmi Films (Finland), chairman of the European Centre for Culture and Arts (ECCA, Finland) and manager and producer of the Eurovision working group, Tahir Aliyev.

- Tahir, could you please disclose a little secret? What sort of show is our country preparing?

- We develop the concept of all the shows that will be presented on the Eurovision stage in Baku. I will not lay all the cards on the table in order to keep some intrigue. I'll just note that the foreign producers and experts with whom we cooperate are saying in one voice that the song contest has never seen this kind of show yet! The most advanced light and sound technologies will be used in Baku. We will bring together the East and the West and show the guests the full potential of our country. I think that Azerbaijani Eurovision will be remembered and discussed in the world for a long time.

- The heads of the international delegations of the countries participating in the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest met in Baku recently. Can you tell us about the meeting?

- This meeting was a kind of the first big gathering ahead of the contest, which was attended by representatives of 42 countries. At the meeting, the heads of Eurovision delegations discussed Baku's preparations for Eurovision-2012. We provided guests with all the information about Azerbaijan, the upcoming show, its venue and all the nuances. In turn, the heads of delegations gave us detailed information about the artists who will represent their countries at the contest. I think the participants were satisfied with both the meeting and the hospitality of our city and its inhabitants. During the meeting, a draw was held to determine the order of performances. The representative of Azerbaijan will appear on the stage of the Baku Crystal Hall on 26 May in the finals under number 13. Hopefully, this number will bring luck to Sabina Babayeva!

- How are things going with the shooting of Eurovision promotional videos? A few months ago, you announced a national casting organized by your team.

- I have been engaged in organizing work with delegations that will arrive in Baku in May - these are thousands of people. Our commitments also include the organization of castings for the shooting of promotional videos and photo commercials. When I was just appointed to the post of manager and producer of the working group of the contest, the first thing I inquired about was the presence in Baku of agencies specializing in non-professional actors. It turned out that the small number of modelling agencies available here work exclusively with professional models. But we needed people of all ages and professions who had not appeared on TV before. Then we announced a casting on a social network and did not expect such an influx of those who wanted to take part in the filming. More than 500 people responded to the call: 388 people participated in the casting, and we received another 140 photos and questionnaires through the Internet. Among the latter were a lot of athletes, musicians and painters. Those who did not get a chance to participate in it for one reason or another were given a chance in the second casting. As a result of the two castings and one video casting, we selected about 150 people who formed the basis of Eurovision. At the present time, we are shooting video post cards for countries participating in the contest.

- Tahir, in addition to preparing for the Eurovision contest, you do not forget about your main profession as a film producer. In February, your film "Woman on Hold" (Finland) was presented at the prestigious Berlin Film Festival. Can you tell us about this film?

- Two years ago, my colleagues and I got an idea to film a documentary in Zambia. We announced a competition in this country, and as a result, a very talented young girl and film director, Jessy Chisi, was selected. She proposed to address the important problem of gender relations in Zambia in the film. The film about a young African girl Esther Phiri, who became the first female boxer against all odds, earning the right to participate in the Olympics in 2012, is based on a true story. In Zambia, with its patriarchal rules, any violation of unwritten rules leads to protests, especially among the male population. But Esther Phiri, who achieved great results in sports, became a role model for many of her compatriots. By the way, we also invented a computer game, the main character of which is Esther Phiri. No one had previously created a computer game based on a documentary. In addition, we opened a fund called Woman on Hold.org, through which we attract sponsors willing to support African women who want to engage in sports.

The film "Woman on Hold" was shot by Helmi Films, the first channel of Finnish television YLE TV1 and the Spanish TV channel Chello Multicanal in the Zambian capital Lusaka. It was supported by several European and Finnish cinema funds, the European Documentary Network and the Documentary in Europe forum held in Turin. By the way, the film was presented at the International Rotterdam Film Festival and the Amsterdam Film Festival last year. And now it is at Berlinale.

- How did you end up in Finland and how did a master of history of international relations turn into a producer and director?

- My whole family is somehow connected with Finland. In the past, my father - poet and writer Cingiz Alioglu - translated the Finnish epic "Kalevala". He is still friends with the Finnish national poet Aulikki Oksanen, who first set up in Europe an organization called Azerbaijan-Finland cultural bridge, which includes Finnish citizens that support our country in the Karabakh issue. I began to organize Days of Finnish Culture in Azerbaijan - I invited well-known directors, producers and artists to our country. Among them was the famous Finnish director Pirjo Honkasalo, who noticed my interest in cinema and asked me to seriously engage in cinema production. She said that I could become one of the first Azerbaijanis who got professional producer education in Europe. Honkasalo gave me the opportunity to prove myself as a production manager in her film.

"The 3 Rooms of Melancholia." This motion picture is composed of three short stories - "rooms" connected with the war in Chechnya. The first story is about the life of young cadets at a cadet school near St. Petersburg. The second one is devoted to a Chechen woman, Khadizhat Gatayeva, who picked up children in war-shattered Groznyy, replacing their parents. And the third one is about the life and feelings of children who have already been saved by Khadizhat Gatayeva. We shot most of the film in Ingushetia and Groznyy itself. And these are also true stories of real people. For some time, the film was banned in Russia. After this film, I was immediately invited to work on the first channel in Finland. A year later, I graduated from the MA course of the Metropolia University of Applied Sciences in Finland.