Epress.am News from Armenia
Eldar Guliyev’s film “Hostage,” which in addressing the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict “depicts Armenians in a positive light,” has been banned in Azerbaijan.
In the film, during the Nagorno-Karabakh war in the late 80s, early 90s, an Azerbaijani peasant farmer Kerim has been captured by Armenians. The village council decides to take an Armenian hostage in order to arrange an exchange of POWs. They imprison the Armenian captive in the barn next to Kerim’s house, where his wife and three children desperately await the husband’s return. As time passes, the Azeri villagers discover the Armenian man likewise has human qualities and is similarly in the same situation (as Kerim).
As reported by Aze.az, one possible explanation is that the country’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism banned the film. Another explanation is that the country’s leadership did not like the plot, since “in a country where there is continuing Armenian aggression, representing Armenians in a positive light could not be unequivocally accepted.”
Asked why his films “Scream” and “Memory” reveal the “atrocities of Armenians, while ‘Hostage’ attempts to somewhat smooth the conflict, to mitigate the enemy attitude between the two nations,” Guliyev said that he doesn’t want war.
“I don’t want young, beautiful Azerbaijani men to die there. I don’t know any parents who want war. I don’t want to see the tears of mothers. I don’t want to see the tears of girls who’ve lost their loved ones in war. I don’t know people who would want such a thing,” he said.
Guliyev said he himself put the ban on his film, explaining his decision due to lack of cinemas in the country. “We do not have cinemas. God willing, the Nizami cinema will reopen and other cinemas will be restored. Then I believe this film will be shown to audiences.”
[Updated on Mar. 7 at 7:13 pm: last paragraph added.]