The story of Victory on the big screen: the premiere of the film "44" took place in Baku - PHOTO

On October 12, the Heydar Aliyev Center hosted the presentation of the feature film "44," dedicated to the heroism of the Azerbaijani people during the Patriotic War.

The film is intended to contribute to the preservation of historical memory and the patriotic education of the rising generation.

As a 1news.az correspondent reports, before the screening began, viewers were shown a video containing information about the filming process and the creation of this large-scale cinematic work. Then the soundtrack to the film "44" was performed by the Symphony Orchestra of the Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater together with the State Choir Chapel of Azerbaijan.

The musical accompaniment created a special emotional atmosphere, complemented by documentary footage recounting the Azerbaijani people's path to Victory. The chronicle included video materials devoted to the struggle for Azerbaijan's territorial integrity, the political course of National Leader Heydar Aliyev aimed at liberating the occupied lands, as well as the continuation of this policy by the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Supreme Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev.

After this, the feature film "44" was shown to the audience.

The film is a dramatic story about heroism and love, told from the perspective of a cadet. The events shown on screen through the images of Special Forces servicemen reveal the strength of spirit, resilience, will, and selflessness of the generation that rose to defend the Motherland.

The main characters of the film are special forces officer Rashad Khalilov, Turkish orthopedic doctor Zeynab Ozdemir, who works in Azerbaijan, and the commander of a special forces group, Colonel Ramazan Kerimov. Against the backdrop of tense military events, a love story unfolds, accompanied by the personal trials the characters face.

"44" is not merely a feature film about war. It is a narrative about the Azerbaijani people, who preserved boundless love for the Motherland, did not lose hope, and fought selflessly to the very last for the liberation of their lands.

The film is an artistic chronicle of the historic Victory achieved thanks to the iron fist of the victorious Supreme Commander-in-Chief, national unity, and the heroism of Azerbaijan's brave sons.

The feature film "44" was created with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Film Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan (ARKA), and the Baku Media Center. In terms of production scale, the number of specialists involved, the geography of the filming process, the volume of technical resources used, and the level of international cooperation, the film is among the largest cinematic projects implemented in Azerbaijan in recent years.

The artistic director of the film was Anar Alakbarov, and the directors were Ismail Safarali and Maxim Smetana. The screenwriters were Anar Alakbarov and Ismail Iman, the producer was Orman Aliyev, the director of photography was Alexander Pozdnyakov, the editing director was Elshad Rahimov, the composer was Ruslan Agababayev, and the sound engineer was Teymur Kerimov.

The creation of the film took five years — from the development of the script to the completion of postproduction. In particular, work on the artistic and directorial scripts continued for two years, and another year was required to prepare for filming. The filming process itself lasted 14 months, and postproduction took another year.

The permanent creative, acting, and administrative team included 455 people. At the same time, taking into account servicemen, participants in crowd scenes, performers of episodic roles, and specialists involved at various stages of the work, the total number of project participants amounted to several thousand people.

A total of 198 specialists from various professional fields were invited to work on the film. The filming involved 2,500 servicemen, 42 special forces fighters, 32 actors who played the main roles, 1,143 performers of secondary roles, as well as about 2,000 participants in crowd scenes. Among the actors involved in the film were also participants of the Patriotic War.

Alongside Azerbaijani actors, the well-known Turkish actress Özge Gürel starred in the film. Before the start of the filming process, the cast underwent military tactical training at the training base of the Special Forces. All types of troops and forces of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan were involved in the filming.

The filming process covered Baku, Absheron, Aghdam, Jabrayil, Fuzuli, Goranboy, Ganja, Khojaly, Khojavend, Khizi, Lerik, and Shusha. In total, work on the film was carried out at more than 130 different locations.

During the production of the film, more than 150 units of military equipment, weapons, engineering assets, aviation and automotive equipment, as well as communications equipment, gear, and special equipment were used. In particular, tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, multiple launch rocket systems, artillery systems, combat helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles, engineering equipment, and armored vehicles were used for filming. In addition, small arms, machine guns, sniper rifles, grenade launchers, anti-tank missile systems, and mortars were used.

To reproduce the large-scale combat episodes as authentically as possible, 300,000 training and live rounds of various types, hundreds of units of training ammunition, as well as a significant volume of pyrotechnic materials, smoke effects, explosive materials, and special equipment for performing stunts were used.

In total, 112 hours of video material were obtained during filming, the editing of which continued over the course of a year. The final running time of the feature film was 2 hours and 38 minutes.

At various stages of the project's implementation, international specialists were engaged in the work. With their participation, stunt work, the staging of stunt scenes, the creation of pyrotechnic effects, sound recording directly on set, camera support, makeup work, music recording and mixing, sound design, computer graphics creation, color correction, and final image processing were carried out. Foreign specialists also participated in providing the premiere screenings with the necessary technical equipment.

In total, professionals from 13 countries were involved in carrying out these tasks — the USA, Germany, Austria, Belarus, Great Britain, Georgia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Poland, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, and Estonia.

The creation of computer graphics for the film was carried out together with Ukrainian specialists at the Estonian studio UMP, which specializes in 3D graphics, computer animation, and visual effects. At the same time, artificial intelligence products were not used in the production of the film.

Postproduction work, including color correction, digital image processing, and mastering, was performed by the Polish studio FixaFilm.

The initial recording of the film's musical score took place at New York Production Studios in the USA. Subsequently, the music was recorded in Baku, performed by the Symphony Orchestra of the Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater under the direction of Honored Artist of Azerbaijan Eyyub Guliyev. The final mixing and mastering of the musical compositions were carried out at the renowned British studio AIR Studios.

The total duration of work on the film's musical arrangement reached 394 hours. Of these, 202 hours were devoted to studio recording, and the remaining 192 hours to the subsequent processing of the musical material.

The film's sound design, which included sound editing, the processing of all sound elements and effects, as well as the integration of the musical accompaniment into the film, was carried out over six months. The final sound correction, including the preparation of a professional sound version in Dolby Digital 5.1 format, was performed at the ORK Film Company with the participation of specialized experts from Russia.

In creating the film, special attention was paid to issues of accessibility of the cinematic work for viewers with special needs. In particular, using modern technologies, a version of the film with audio description was prepared for people with visual impairments.

Specifically for the premiere screenings, a modern projection screen was purchased from the German-Austrian company LANG AG, and a film projector equipped with the latest technologies and a DCP format film playback system was rented from the German company BIG cinema.

Such technical equipment will be used in Azerbaijan for the first time for the high-quality screening of a feature film of this scale. During the screening, modern systems ensuring high-quality sound accompaniment were also used.

A special edition was released for the film's premiere, which included photographs, information about the filming process, archival materials, and information about the work of the creative team. In addition, a limited series of commemorative gift sets was prepared.

In order to promote the feature film "44" on the international stage, screenings abroad are planned in the future, as well as participation in international film festivals.

Starting October 15, the feature film "44" will be released in cinemas across Azerbaijan.