{mosimage}Using the image of the costumes the boys have to wear when posing alongside tourists for pictures as a metaphor for the masks that need to fall, Rasulzadeh addresses the larger panorama of a society on the verge of intense and profound transformations. This coming of age drama set in 1989, when critical moments in the lives of the boys are interwoven with tormented historical conditions, has a nostalgic and sometimes comical touch, integrated into a sincere account of the director's own experience.

Rasulzadeh choose his young actors from a selection of some 500 adolescents. The major challenge of the production was to find the remnants Baku in 1989. The streets and the buildings of the capital city of Azerbaijan underwent dramatic changes. The production team was also challenged in its search for the advertisments, the cars and other period requirements needed in order to recreate the atmosphere of the late 80's.

Born in 1972 in Baku, Rasulzadeh graduated from the Azerbaijan State Institute of Arts in 1998 and attended Moscow's VGIK film school. He shot two short documentary films: MIMoZHIZNI (2003), and the award-winning Gestures. Reconciliation... (2005), a portrait of an old man whose life was destroyed by the war, which he produced, wrote, and directed. Dolls/Kuklalar is his first feature.

{mosimage}Production information

Sinag-film

Tbilis pr. 1 Azerbaijan

Producer: Tofig Musayev

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Credits

Director: Chingiz Rasulzade

Screenplay: Chingiz Rasulzade, Ramiz Fataliyev

DOP: Yuri Varnovsky

Music: Isa Melikov

Designer: Rovshan Mehdiyev

Editor: Elshad Rahimov

Cast: Gorgud Jafarli

Evgeniy Gahramanov

Iskender Agagulov

Javid Guliyev

Vahid Aliyev

Jamina Agayeva

Elvira Jafarova