Arts & Culture

Opera and Ballet Theatre  film
French TV journalist Maksim Mardukhayev arrived in Baku to make a film about the Azerbaijani State Opera and Ballet Theatre.
The theatre's press office told AssA-Irada that Maksim Mardukhayev had shot similar films about more five well-known theatres.
During his last year's visit, Mardukhayev filmed a 52-minute documentary about the plight of refugee and IDP children in Imisli District. The documentary is to be presented in Baku and Imisli as part of the ongoing visit.

Film production master classes by Russian director
Georgi Danelia, a renowned Russian producer, will arrive in Baku early in April at the invitation of the Azerbaijani Union of Filmmakers and the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Tourism. Secretary of the union, Baba Vaziroglu, told AssA-Irada that Danelia would run a master class for local young producers for a week at the Ganclik tourism centre in Zagulba resort on the outskirts of Baku. Danelia, a Georgian by origin, has run the filming of Ne goryuy (Don't be sad), Osenniy marafon (Autumn marathon) and other popular comedies of Soviet cinematography.

British performance poetry delayed
The uncertainty in the international situation, and recent developments in the Middle East caused the cancellation of a visit to Azerbaijan by two performing poets, Francesca Beard and Malika Booker.
Following the announcement, the British Council told AssA-Irada that the "decision to cancel is not related to Azerbaijan or any specific risks here." The event is likely to happen in the near future.
The visit was originally scheduled for March 27-28.

Finnish film festival due
A Finnish film festival is to be conducted in Baku over 28 March-2 April. The Culture Ministry has told AssA-Irada that Finish film directors will travel to Baku take part in the official opening ceremony of the festival at the Azerbaijan cinema. Films to be showed at the Nizami cinema will be free.

Folk dances at world festival
The World Dance Festival will be hosted in several US cities from late May to early June.
The Culture Ministry's press office told AssA-Irada that Azerbaijan's State Dance Band, which is directed by People's Artist Afaq Malikova, would perform national dances at the festival.
Dance companies from more than 100 countries all over the world are expected to attend the festival.

Azeri thinker's monument to be unveiled in Russia
The ceremony unveiling the monument to Nizami Gancavi, a classical Azeri poet and thinker of the 12th century who is also among the most renowned figures of world literature, is scheduled for May on the 85th anniversary of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, in Cheboksary, a provincial capital town in central Russia. The Union of Architects of Azerbaijan announced the monument had been created by Azeri artist Omar Eldarov, who is the principal of the Azerbaijan Academy of Artists, with support from the Azerbaijan-Chuvashiya Union of Friendship and Co-operation, and would be erected in Cheboksary's Nizami Street.

Long-waited film to be presented
A film, Haci Qara, based on a play of the same name, written in the mid 19th century by the founder of the Azerbaijani dramaturgy Mirza Fatali Axundov will be presented early in April. The director of the film, Cahangir Mehdiyev, told AssA-Irada that though the filming started early in the 1990s, it was delayed due to financial problems and the death of Malik Daddasov, who was to star as Haci Qara, a miserly rich merchant. After the Culture Ministry allocated funds last year, it was possible to complete the screening. Playing leading parts are People's Artists Sayavaus Aslan (Haci Qara), Haci Ismayilov and others.

Female image in fine arts
An art exhibition, Female image in fine arts, opened on at the Abseron Art Gallery March 25. Eldaniz Ibrahimov, the director of the gallery told AssA-Irada that initiated by the United Nations Population Fund, the event which is to last a week, familiarised the visitors with 53 tableau, graphics, and sculpture works by 38 artists.

Rare china exhibits in Baku
An exhibition of rare china opens at the Azerbaijan State Arts Museum named after Mustafayev in Baku at the beginning of May. A museum-placed source told AssA-Irada that the majority of exhibits, to be displayed, date from the Middle Ages. Some of the works of art have been acquired from the currently shut West Museum, once a well-known collection of rarities in Saint-Petersburg, and brought to Baku. Among 400 exhibits are china confiscated from wealthy Azeri families during the first years of Soviet power.