A film forum will be named after Rustam Ibragimbekov and a prequel to “White Sun of the Desert” will be filmed

More than a year has passed since the death of a wonderful playwright, director, writer, producer and person Rustam Ibragimbekov. He is known as the screenwriter of the films “White Sun of the Desert” (together with Valentin Yezhov) by Vladimir Motyl, “Keep me, my talisman” by Roman Balayan, “Urga. Territory of Love”, “Siberian Barbershop”, “Burnt by the Sun” by Nikita Mikhalkov, “Nomad” by Sergei Bodrov Sr. As it turned out, his glorious deeds live on, and the film forum will be named after him. And a long-standing scenario referring to the prehistory of the “White Sun of the Desert” can be realized.

People are now so quickly forgotten, despite their merits. Everything is fast. It seemed that the glorious undertakings of Rustam Ibragimbekov, his incredible efforts to preserve the unified post-Soviet film space had sunk into oblivion.

He created large-scale international projects that united filmmakers from different continents, did everything possible so that the filmmakers of the USSR that had gone down in history did not scatter in all directions. This was the basis of his activities as head of the Confederation of Unions of Cinematographers of the CIS and Baltic States and the Forum of National Cinematographers, which united directors and screenwriters from the CIS countries, and once the Baltics. For this, he once created the international award “East-West. Golden Arch.

Rustam’s daughter, actress, screenwriter and producer Fatima Ibragimbekova, whom he adored, decided to continue her father’s work, which is not so easy under the current circumstances.

“Due to the geopolitical situation, the Golden Arch cannot be held,” says Fatima. – Our jury included 60 film experts and film critics from different countries. Many of them will not be able to come to us. Many countries included in the list of participants and nominees cannot be represented now. And I didn’t want my father’s business, his work in the Confederation to be interrupted. We decided to revive the Forum of National Films, which was held 17 times, to revive and focus on educational events in order to support students from different film schools and countries that are members of the Confederation. It was also decided to give the forum the name of Rustam Ibragimbekov and hold an evening in his memory in Moscow. Everything that I organized took place in Baku (where he was born and raised, studied and worked – S.Kh.). But there was nothing in Moscow. It’s good that on the anniversary of the death of the pope, we managed to open a monument to him. It was a chamber, but very sincere event. Everything, as dad loved: at home, all his own.

“Everything is quickly forgotten now. Have you experienced this?

– No, they don’t. I get good news all the time. In Turkey, a collection of his works, almost eight volumes, was published. All of them have been translated into Turkish. Two volumes of his works have already been translated into Azerbaijani in Baku. We will publish them. An almanac will be published in Russia, consisting of the memoirs of friends and colleagues. My brother and I are actively engaged in ensuring that my father’s scripts are staged. There are several projects, a series and a film. We do everything we can to keep his work going. All countries included in the Confederation, despite all the difficulties, are positively disposed. No one left its ranks. Many responded with great enthusiasm and want to come to us and show their films.

– Will the series you mentioned be filmed in Azerbaijan or Russia?

– In Russia. This is a prequel to The White Sun of the Desert, which my dad wrote with Valentin Yezhov. But it’s too early to talk about it. There are negotiations. Different people approached the project at different times.

– Rustam told me about it. Yusup Razykov was supposed to direct the series.

– There are a lot of people who want to. I would like it to be a high-quality, talented film. We started with dad. I tried to actively contribute to making it happen. I hope that it will be possible to bring his idea to its logical conclusion.

– All your efforts have a response? Is anyone interested in what your father put his life into?

– We are actively supported by diplomats, those people who worked with dad. After all, no matter what happens, we must continue to build cultural bridges. What politicians cannot do, cultural figures can do. My dad has been doing this for 30 years. You remember how terrible times were in the 90s. But he kept everything so diligently. How many sticks were put in his wheels. And now everyone understands how important it is to be friends with Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Armenia and Uzbekistan. And in the late 90s, for some reason, no one thought about it. They said that the Confederation was not needed either, that we would be on our own.

– Rustam Ibragimbekov was recently replaced by an actor from Belarus. Now he led the Confederation.

– It was necessary to choose someone for my father’s post. At the general meeting in zoom, representatives of all participating states voted for Viktor Vasiliev. He is a very energetic and wonderful person and actor and gladly got down to business. So the Confederation is alive.

It is gratifying that the children of Rustam Ibragimbekov – Fatima and Fuad – are trying to realize the creative ideas of their father. It is worth remembering what kind of project “The White Sun of the Desert. Beginning ”was taken by Yusup Razykov. There should have been a series. The prehistory of Vladimir Motyl’s film was conceived about how the Red Army soldier Sukhov and Katerina Matveevna met, how Sukhov ended up in Central Asia, what was Abdulla’s youth and what happened in the harem. Rustam spoke about this project more than once, believed in it, urged to refrain from comparisons, since this is an independent work. Yes, and Vladimir Motyl was thinking about continuing and it seems that he was a little offended that he was not offered to participate in the project that was being started. There was also a continuation story, where Sukhov’s son was supposed to appear, and he himself went through the Gulag, and when he returned, his beloved Katerina Matveevna was no longer in the world.