Red Carpet & Award Ceremony 🎫 Get Your Tickets
Original Film Title: Home
Director’s Name: Emil Gasanov
Writer’s Name: Emil Gasanov
Producer: Emil Gasanov
Country of Origin: Italy
Country of Filming: Azerbaijan
Language: Russian
Runtime: 7 minutes 15 seconds
Film Description:
“KIBAЛ” (“Home” in the Lezgi language) is a filmic reflection on my relationship with my culture and my family. It shows how the people and places that once felt safe and familiar in childhood can become emotionally complex over time. As we grow, we change, and returning to those spaces can feel both comforting and overwhelming.
The film reflects on the experience of moving between cultures and the subtle transformations that follow. Adapting to a new environment inevitably shapes you, but it does not mean abandoning your roots. Instead, it creates an opportunity to carry and expand them. Ultimately, no one defines your connection to your origins except yourself.
Visually, the film draws inspiration from the works of Claire Denis, Sergei Parajanov, and Sedaget Kerimova. All locations and symbolic elements are recreated or reimagined from my parents’ wedding tape from 1998.
This film is dedicated to my cousin, Ruslan Gasanov. He asked me to take him to Europe someday, but unfortunately he passed away before I could, so I decided that at least my work, that was created in Europe, could carry a memory of him.