On the 28th of September in the framework of the project of the French Institute "My French movie" actor and director Bahram Bagirzade presented the film "The Toy" (1976) by Francis Weber. It was a very entertaining event held in the “Landmark Hotel”.“My French movie” event was held with the assistance of “Institute Français d’Azerbaïdjan”, which is very popular among the young generation of Azerbaijan interested in studying French language as well as French culture.

The opening speech was made by the Cultural Counselor of the French Embassy and the director of the French Institute in Azerbaijan Johan Schitterer. He greeted all the guests of this event and introduced himself to the public. Mister John Schitterer also familiarized the guests of the event with the project called “My French movie”. He noted: “My French movie” event is a project made in the framework of the French Institute in Baku, Azerbaijan. This project is held every summer in the concept called “Summer Festival” provided by the French Institute. The main objective of this project is the presentation of the French films by Azerbaijani celebrities in the sphere of culture and art. We are sure that this event will bring a big success and decided to hold such cultural events every month in the most famous Azerbaijani cultural centers. Moreover, we are planning to hold such events even in the regions of Baku and Azerbaijan. Today’s film “Toy” is the last film of the “Summer Festival” held this year”.

The director of the French Institute also underlined the cultural ties between Azerbaijan and France. He said that there is a big interest of Azerbaijani people In French culture, thus we are keen to mend the ties between Azerbaijan and France and further boost them by holding such events.

The Film presenter Bahram Baghirzade also delivered his speech to the guests of the event. Bahram Baghirzade is one of the Azerbaijani celebrities who actively participate in cultural events of Azerbaijan. Bahram Baghirzade in his speech said: “Dear Azerbaijani fellow countrymen’s, I have been looking at you and I realized that you are very beautiful nation. When I become a popular film director I promise I will cast in my film all of you sitting here (laughing). People always ask me, whom I will cast in my films? And my answer is always the same. If I film my movies in Azerbaijan I will definitely have beautiful women and intelligent men cast there. And, what concerns today’s movie “The Toy” I will not tell anything about it. People should watch it. I think if I tell the plot of the film to our audience, there will be no more interest in the film that is why I choose to remain silent. On the other side, I am not Ayaz Salayev (Azerbaijani film expert and film director) to speak so eloquently as him. Mr. Ayaz Salayev is one of those who made us love the film art. I consider him as one of my best mentors; he taught me a lot of things. He taught us and gave us upbringing through the TV show “Retro” broadcasted in the 80’s when Azerbaijan was a Soviet country. Nowadays, most people criticize the Soviet time, but I have to admit that the Soviet time was one of the best periods. The Soviet period filmed a lot of movies which are being watched till nowadays. Moreover, when we were child we always watched French movies such as “Old gun”, “The Sicilian clan”,  “Angelica and the King” and so on. We were lucky kids because we were educated by watching the European films at that time. When I was first asked, which film to present to our audience I selected “Angelica and the King”. You will ask me, why did I choose this film, because of Angelica? I will say “no”, because of Robert Hossein (laughing). That time I fell in love with Robert Hossein. Years later I learned that he is of Azerbaijani origin. Since that time I love him more. I remember one famous French film “A Man and a woman” which was made by prominent French film director Claude Lelouch. That was a film of my childhood. We were not allowed to watch this film by our parents when we were children. That is why we were watching it hiding under a table (laughing). French films are loved in Azerbaijan”.

After the speech, Johan Schitterer thanked Bahram Baghirzade for his contribution and promised to hold such events more frequently in order to beef up the ties between Azerbaijan and France and familiarize the local people with French culture and art.

Akber Bayramov, Eurasia Diary