42° TORINO FILM FESTIVAL
INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARIES COMPETITION
LE RETOUR DU PROJECTIONNISTE
by Orkhan Aghazadeh
Country: France
Year: 2024
Duration: 87'
In the Soviet Union Samid was the projectionist in his Azeri village just at the border with Iran. Now Samid earns his living by fixing radios and TVs, but he kept the film equipment in his basement. He never stopped hoping to show films again. Last year his son died in a tragic accident. After months of grief Samid takes the decision to reactivate the projector and assemble his village in front of the screen again. He meets an unexpected ally: Ayaz, a young boy who is experimenting with animation clips on his phone. Soon they need to deal with growing tensions within the village. And what are they to do about the missing ending of the only remaining film copy? Either way they are determined to bring light into the village and slowly a tender friendship is born. One thing is certain: They will not be stopped.
Biography
film director
Orkhan Aghazadeh
(Azerbaijan, 1988) debuted with the short documentary A Letter to Lenin, which premiered at Leipzig International film festival in 2009. His graduation short film from London Film School, The Chairs, was screened by many festivals like Palm Springs Short, Angers Premiers Plans, Tampere, Brussels, Poitiers and won several awards in 2018. His feature project The Prisoner was the first project from Azerbaijan to be selected by the Cinefondation Residency of Cannes Film Festival in 2021 and took part in Cinemart of Rotterdam Film Festival.
FILMOGRAFIA
Letter to Lenin (cm, doc, 2009), The Chairs (cm, 2018), The Womb (cm, 2021), Le Retour du projectionniste (doc, 2024).
Cast
& Credits
DIRECTOR: Orkhan Aghazadeh. CINEMATOGRAPHY: Daniel Guliyev. EDITING: Nicole Schmeier. SUOND: Morteza Najaflo. PRODUCTION: Kidam, Lichtblick Film.
CONTACT: Cat&Docs maelle@catndocs.com
