Cinema Night of 2 Teymurs

A screening of films by directors Teymur Hajiyev and Teymur Gambarov took place at the Cinema House of AUF on September 14.

The event titled as  “Night of Two Teymurs” was moderated by film critic Sevda Sultanova.

Teymur Ganbarov`s debut film “Gukhuroba” screened firstly.  The author mentioned that the film, starring actor-director Elvin Adigozel, was based on real events that happened to him: “Almost 80 percent of the film happened to me,” he said. Of course, I did not wear a bridal gown but once I carried it.  I even came across a request to take someone to a village at fuel station. ”

The fourth film of the director Teymur Hajiyev – “Towards the evening” was screened after Gukhuroba that was shot in the namesake village of Gusar district. After screening, the authors shared their experiences about the shooting and answered questions by the audience.

“Towards the evening “is not a commercial project, the director said, adding that the money invested in the film is only for his research: “It’s money invested to find the form in the film,” he said. Because no matter how great a screenplay you write, you have to shoot it. Otherwise, it does not work at all. To understand the laws of cinema, it must be made. If you want to understand it, if you see that potential in yourself, you have to take a risk, even at your own expenses, you have to do it, you have to make a film. You know, tens of thousands of films made in the world. And luckily, most of them are in good quality. I think the biggest point of making a film is that if you’re making something, it should make a difference. You can do this only with the form. In my mind, actor, script and etc. are all useless trivia. Your only way is a form. If you shoot something, it must be different from what others have. ”

While mentioning that his educational background is not also in filmmaking like his colleague, Teimur Hajiyev added that his method of working with actors is different: “I can’t work with an actor with traditional techniques because I did not study film directing. In my mind, this is my weakest point. That’s why I prefer real people. I mean, I work with their real mood. During the filming process, the hero of the film was going through certain processes in her personal life. So, it was her real life time period. In general, I do not believe in such things in directing. I do not interfere directly. Of course, I have told her “Come here, go there” and something like that. I mean, I took something out of her.  But these were just the things from herself. There was nothing extraneous to actress.

When the moderator asked, “As a director, do you consider yourself a follower of the traditions of Azerbaijani cinema or do you claim to reflect a completely new trend in cinema?”  Director Teymur Gambarov answered the question as follows: “I do not want to put any limits on myself. I really work hard to do new things. I can also write a short script on the phone. But the main thing is form indeed. At present, I am working with my director of photography just to create something new. Going back to tradition, to be honest, I do not know what the tradition of Azerbaijani film is.

In his speech, Teymur Hajiyev also criticized the directors who complained about the lack of money to make films: “Well, maybe someone doesn’t give you money to make a movie but I don`t think that you need exactly money for the idea, do you?” The important thing is to get rid of this disease from ourselves. Instead of counting the money given to someone, we should try to present an idea. So you have to intuit a sense of cinema, don’t you? I am sure, it does not depend on the ministry. The main problem is to foresee the cinema which is ahead. We can discuss the past with you hour after hour, but we will not get anything. We need to find ways to do something under this moneyless existing conditions. So that we can resound in the world. ”

The event continued the answers of directors asked by moderator and an audience.

Izolda Aghayeva Lala.