Directed by Asif Rustamov • 2022 • Azerbaijan

Asif Rustamov’s erotic, ironic psychodrama is a breath of fresh air for Azerbaijani cinema. A struggling, one-eyed artist (Elshen Esgerov) ekes out a living carving gravestones while engaged in a passionate but provocative affair with a married woman (Natavan Abbasli). His precarious life is upturned when his brutal father (Gurban Ismailov) unexpectedly returns home from prison, triggering an increasingly unhinged series of betrayals and revelations. Driven by the chemistry between its central trio and a black comic edge that recalls the Coen brothers, Cold as Marble is an intelligent and unsettling piece of filmmaking.

COLD AS MARBLE • MƏRMƏR SOYUĞU
Directed by Asif Rustamov
Written by Asif Rustamov and Roelof Jan Minneboo
Cinematography by Adil Abbasov and Oktay Namazov
Starring: Natavan Abbasli, Elshen Esgerov, Gurban Ismailov

In Azerbaijani with English subtitles