hyd film club Azerbaijan Film Festival

“Buta” is the story of a lonely seven year old boy (named Buta), who lives in a mountain village with his grandmother. For the little boy Buta, art and life are inter woven. The boy Buta is befriended by an old man, whose advice helps Buta to overcome his difficulties. Buta’s grandmother weaves a special carpet in memory of Buta’s mother. The carpet features a special pattern (also called “Buta”), which represents love.The boy is inspired by his grandmother’s work, and decides to make his own “Buta” made of rocks and stones, high on the top of the mountain… The film unfolds folk traditions and human sensitivities in a simple contemporary story.

Ilgar Najaf was born March 2nd, 1975, in the Ararat region of the Armenian Republic (USSR). After ethnic conflict in 1988 when he was 13, he and his family were forcibly expelled from Armenia and became refugees. In 1993, he entered the Azerbaijan State University of Arts’ film director’s faculty. In 2004, he established the film studio Buta Film where he worked on a number of documentaries and short films as a producer as well as director.

Ali coaches a rowing team in a provincial town. The young squad also includes his son Ruslan, who finds it difficult to meet the performance demands. Aligoes through a midlife crisis. His family is on a verge of a breakdown. He wants to leave his wife LEYLA for his lover SASHA, who works at the same school. SASHA persistently demands for ALI to accompany her to Poland, her native land, where they could start a new life together. Just before an important race, in the interest of the team’s performance, Ali decides to replace Ruslan, who was originally chosen for the event. Subsequently, dejected son drowns in a municipal water reservoir. ALI searchesfor the body of his son extensively down the river. In a sea port, inside a cold storage room for fish, ALI finally identifies another drowned man as his son, although it is clear to the viewer that this is not RUSLAN.