-
Buta: Film Review
Azerbaijan’s submission to the Academy Awards is a contemporary tale of art and love, told from a child’s point of view. PALM SPRINGS — Though it has one of the world’s oldest national cinema traditions, Azerbaijan has been invited to submit films to the foreign-language Academy Award competition only since 2006. Buta, its fourth official submission, draws upon folk traditions in a simple contemporary tale, at its center a self-possessed 7-year-old who lives with his grandmother in a mountain village. The film didn’t receive an Oscar nomination and is not destined for a high profile on the international theatrical circuit, but it’s sure to find warm welcomes from festival programmers.…
-
Buta – Review
A countryside schoolboy tries to stand up against an albino bully in the charming and gorgeously assembled “Buta,” this year’s foreign-language Oscar submission from Azerbaijan. The titular orphan is named after the paisley shape that finds its way into both the carpet he receives for his birthday and an enormous stone monument he’s constructing on a scenic mountaintop. This naturally acted contempo fable has been making the fest rounds, and will also appeal to tube buyers looking for exotic, G-rated fare. ByBoyd van Hoeij A countryside schoolboy tries to stand up against an albino bully in the charming and gorgeously assembled “Buta,” this year’s foreign-language Oscar submission from Azerbaijan. The…
-
Azerbaijan to hold film event in South Korea
The Korea Foundation (KF) will hold a film event dedicated to Azerbaijan at the Miro Space in Seoul on Oct.15-17. According to the organization, the 2015 Azerbaijan Film Festival, co-hosted with the Azerbaijan-Korean Cultural Exchange Association and the Azerbaijan Culture Foundation, will introduce six Azerbaijan films that are not well known in Korea but were nominated for international film festivals. Azerbaijan film maker Ilgar Najaf, who produced “Buta” (2011), will come to Korea and meet the audience on Oct. 18. Other movies include “Atress” (2011), “The Cloth Peddler” (1945), “Hostage” (2005) and “Down the River” (2014). For more information, visit www.kf.or.kr. Source: http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2018/08/176_188426.html
-
Ilgar Najaf: Buta (Azerbaijan, 2011) reviewed by Vlad Strukov
Buta is an ornament on carpets, fabrics, embroideries, frescoes. It had been known from times immemorial. It has polysemantic symbolics. It is interpreted as a bud, the Sun, a drop of water, a tongue-flame, an ovary of fruit and many other things. But mainly it symbolizes life. From the opening credits of Buta Scripted and directed by Ilgar Najaf, Buta was chosen as the Azerbaijani entry in the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 85th Academy Awards. Buta is a nickname of the film’s protagonist, a seven-year old boy, who lives in a remote village in Azerbaijani highlands. Disconnected from the modern world, he and other villagers display a…
-
Interview with Ilgar Najaf about BUTA
“Directors often feel like Christopher Columbus” 7-year old Buta lives with his grandmother in a mountain village in Azerbaijan. Life seems easy: Buta goes to school, plays with his girlfriend, fights a group of envious boys and meets a new friend and tutor, an old soap seller encouraging him by his worldly wisdom and telling him stories from a long gone past. Buta is not just a name, it’s also a pattern on the carpets that the women in the village are weaving. Looking like a drop of water (see picture), it has a rich symbolic meaning. Looking closely, you’ll find buta’s everywhere in this film. Ilgar Najaf: “From the…
