Baku from Dawn till Dusk

Life in Baku flows according to the slow rhythm set by the namāz–the Muslim ritual prayer said several times during the day. Everyone is subordinate to that rhythm – from car mechanics to employees of dynamic advertising agencies. Progress and tradition clash with each other in the city’s landscape. Opulence and modesty contrast with each other. Modern skyscrapers, impressive museum buildings, wide boulevardsand huge apartment buildings are springing up – though everything comes at a price. This splendour is built on the extraction of oil, which is destroying the landscape around the city. In the film we shall see an episode which shows a family whose multi-generational house will cease to exist to make way for a new business quarter. There will be farewells and nostalgia for the loss of their place on the earth. Tradition remains alive, however, if you look in the right place. Hope blossoms in the children taking part in the annual community cleaning of carpets and during lessons where folk songs are taught. The future also has its place in the hearts of the people – we meet a young woman making plans for her wedding ceremony, and we will also be witnesses to the future in the making at a traditional Azerbaijani wedding. Time is ever-present in Baku. Every episode of this film is a journey into the past or the future or is a study of the moment.