Hilal Baydarov
2025
Director, Screenplay, Editor: Hilal Baydarov
Main Producer: Hilal Baydarov (Ucqar Film)Co-Producers: Carlos Reygadas (Splendor Omnia Studios, Burak Çevik (Fol Films)
Executive Producers: XXX
Actors: Huseyn Nasirov, Maryam Naghiyeva, Rana Asgarova, Elshan Abbasov, Orkhan Iskandarli
Running Time: 112 min.
Language: Azerbaijani
Countries: Azerbaijan, Mexico, Turkey
Main Producer: Hilal Baydarov (Ucqar Film)Co-Producers: Carlos Reygadas (Splendor Omnia Studios, Burak Çevik (Fol Films)
Executive Producers: XXX
Actors: Huseyn Nasirov, Maryam Naghiyeva, Rana Asgarova, Elshan Abbasov, Orkhan Iskandarli
Running Time: 112 min.
Language: Azerbaijani
Countries: Azerbaijan, Mexico, Turkey
Synopsis
As the world comes to an end, Shah Ismail embarks on a quest for the Water of Life.
Director’s Statement
I’ve never had a serious reason to begin this film — or any of my other films. Nothing in this world has ever compelled me, encouraged me, or inspired me to make cinema. It’s only that, sometimes, an unexpected and inner urgency rises within me — one so strong it refuses to let me stay still. My understanding of cinema is not built on knowing, but on not knowing. Not even knowing anything about the characters. While making Boşluğa Xütb , which took eleven months, it wasn’t until the fifth or sixth month that I found the name of the central character. The others remained unnamed. And to this day, I still don’t know who these characters are. I don’t know why they enter the film — or why they leave. I can’t find their reflection in real life either. They simply dwell in the vastness of the desert. They are not the kind of figures one would encounter on a journey with any intention of return. After all, isn’t the true self we seek hidden in a place entirely without colour, without taste, without story — in the endlessness of the desert? And when a soul has once tasted the force of pure witnessing, isn’t embracing the curse of the desert as one’s homeland the truest Sermon to the Void?
Reviews
I’ve never had a serious reason to begin this film — or any of my other films. Nothing in this world has ever compelled me, encouraged me, or inspired me to make cinema. It’s only that, sometimes, an unexpected and inner urgency rises within me — one so strong it refuses to let me stay still. My understanding of cinema
Screenings
World Premiere: Venice Film Festival, Out of Competition
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