Directed by Orkhan Aghazadeh • 2024 • Azerbaijan

In Soviet times, Samid worked as a village projectionist. Nowadays, the cinemas are long gone and he gets by repairing TV sets, beset with grief at the loss of his adult son. But a run-in with local teenager Ayaz, a passionate DIY filmmaker, reawakens Samid’s own cinephilia, and sets this unlikely duo off on an odyssey to resurrect film screenings for their remote community. Set against the stunning backdrop of Azerbaijan’s Talysh mountains, Orkhan Aghazadeh’s exquisitely observed documentary plays like a post-Soviet Cinema Paradiso, capturing the enduring magic of the communal cinematic experience and its capacity to unite people across generations.

THE RETURN OF THE PROJECTIONIST • KİNOMEXANİKİN QAYIDIŞI
Written and directed by Orkhan Aghazadeh
Cinematography by Daniel Guliyev

In Azerbaijani and Talysh with English subtitles