Cat&Docs Boards ‘Cinema Paradiso’ Style Doc ‘The Return of the Projectionist’ Ahead of Visions du Réel Premiere (EXCLUSIVE)
variety.comLise Pedersen “The Return of the Projectionist,” which is running in the main competition at Swiss doc fest Visions du Réel, where it will have its world premiere, has been picked up by Paris-based doc specialist Cat&Docs.
The feature debut of Orkhan Aghazadeh, it tells the story of Samid, a former projectionist in Azerbaijan’s remote Talysh mountains, who is determined to bring cinema back to life in his village using his old Soviet film projector.
He encounters a number of hurdles along the way but he also finds an unexpected ally in 16-year-old Ayaz, a film fan who experiments with animation clips on his smartphone and is eager to learn from Samid.
Aghazadeh chanced upon the story when shooting his graduation short film “The Chairs.” Samid was to be the film’s main character but the relationship with Ayaz emerged as shooting started. “It came as a surprise for us.
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