The premiere of the feature film “44”, dedicated to Azerbaijan's historic Victory in the 44-day Patriotic War, has been held in Baku. Thousands of people, including 2,500 military personnel, took part in the filming of the movie, which was produced over five years, APA reports.
The film, presented at the Heydar Aliyev Center on October 12, depicts the heroism of Azerbaijani servicemen during the Patriotic War, the unity of the people, and the struggle for the liberation of the territories.
Before the premiere, a video featuring statistical data on the film's production process was screened. This was followed by a performance of the film's soundtrack by the Symphony Orchestra of the Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater and the Azerbaijan State Choir Chapel. The music was accompanied by documentary footage reflecting Azerbaijan's path to Victory.
A war story told through the eyes of a cadet
The film “44” is a heroic drama that combines military operations with love, personal challenges, and human destinies.
The main characters of the film are Rashad Khalilov, an officer of the Special Forces, Zeynab Ozdemir, a Turkish orthopedic doctor working in Azerbaijan, and Colonel Ramazan Karimov, commander of a special operations group.
The film highlights the combat path of the Special Forces, the selflessness of military personnel, and the impact of war on human lives.
Five years of preparation, more than 130 filming locations
The production of the film, created with the support of the Ministry of Culture, the Cinema Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan (ARKA), and the Baku Media Center, lasted a total of five years.
Of this period, two years were devoted to script development, one year to preparations for filming, 14 months to the filming process, and another year to post-production work.
The film's permanent creative, acting, and administrative team consisted of 455 people. A total of 198 specialists from various fields were involved in the project.
The filming involved 2,500 military personnel, 42 Special Forces fighters, 32 actors in leading roles, and 1,143 actors in supporting roles. Up to 2,000 participants were involved in crowd scenes. Veterans of the Patriotic War were also among the cast.
Alongside Azerbaijani actors, renowned Turkish actress Özge Gürel also starred in the film. Before filming, the actors underwent military-tactical training at the Special Forces training base.
Filming took place in Baku, Absheron, Aghdam, Jabrayil, Fuzuli, Goranboy, Ganja, Khojaly, Khojavend, Khizi, Lerik, and Shusha, at more than 130 locations in total.
More than 150 pieces of military equipment used in battle scenes
One of the notable aspects of the film is the recreation of large-scale military operations.
More than 150 pieces of military equipment and special equipment, including tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, multiple launch rocket systems, artillery systems, combat helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles, and other military assets, were involved in the filming.
Various types of 300,000 training and live ammunition rounds, hundreds of training munitions, pyrotechnic devices, and special stunt equipment were used to prepare the battle scenes.
A total of 112 hours of footage underwent editing over the course of one year. As a result, a film with a running time of 2 hours and 38 minutes was produced.
Specialists from 13 countries participated, no artificial intelligence was used
In addition to Azerbaijan, specialists from the United States, Germany, Austria, Belarus, the United Kingdom, Georgia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Poland, Russia, Türkiye, Ukraine, and Estonia participated in various stages of the film's production.
A particularly noteworthy aspect is that the film's computer graphics were created at Estonia's UMP studio in cooperation with Ukrainian specialists, and no artificial intelligence products were used in the process.
Color correction, digital image processing, and mastering were carried out at Poland's Dolby Vision-certified FixaFilm studio.
The initial recording of the film's music took place at New York Production Studios in the United States. The music was subsequently recorded in Baku by a symphony orchestra conducted by Honored Artist Ayyub Guliyev. Final mixing and mastering were carried out at AIR Studios in the United Kingdom.
A total of 394 hours were devoted to the musical arrangement, while 450 hours were spent on the final correction of the sound design and its preparation in Dolby Digital 5.1 format.
An audio-described version of the film was also prepared for visually impaired viewers.
For the premiere screening, a special projection screen was purchased from the German-Austrian joint company Lang AG, while a modern cinema projector was rented from Germany's BIG cinema company. It is reported that this technology was used for the first time in Azerbaijan for the screening of a feature film of such scale.
Film's creative team and release date
The artistic director of the film “44” is Anar Alakbarov, the directors are Ismayil Safarali and Maksim Smetana, the screenwriters are Anar Alakbarov and Ismayil Iman, and the producer is Orman Aliyev.
The director of photography is Oleksandr Pozdnyakov, the film editor is Elshad Rahimov, the composer is Ruslan Aghababayev, and the sound director is Teymur Karimov.
The film is planned to be screened in foreign countries and participate in international film festivals in the future.
The feature film “44” will be screened in cinemas across Azerbaijan starting October 15.
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