Inner City
Directed by Ilgar Safat
Narrative Feature
Azerbaijan | 120 min | 2016
“At some point,” Rafael tells Arzu, “people walk together … and then their ways part … each destined to follow the labyrinth of their own inner city …”
Arzu, a young girl growing up in contemporary Azerbaijan, falls in love with Rafael, her piano teacher’s son, a veteran of the Karabakh War. Twice her age and unable to escape from the ravages of war, Rafael is forced to live on the edge of a society that sees him as a ‘cripple.’ Arzu, desperate to escape from the same repressive society which confines women to a strict, narrow path, chooses Rafael over her family and friends – but threatened by Arzu’s mother, and guided by the wisdom born out of his own brokenness, Rafael makes the supreme sacrifice of love.
Ilgar Safat
Director
Born in 1972, Ilgar Safat is a film director, poet and rock singer. He graduated from the faculty of Russian language and literature of the Azerbaijan Pedagogical University and studied film in Moscow. He then directed several documentaries, including The Grandson of the Mountains (2002), The Roots of the Sky (2003), …
