Young Ruslan rows for a team coached by his father Ali, who places many demands upon his son and is continually dissatisfied by his performance. But when tragedy strikes, his father is overcome with emotions he doesn’t know how to deal with. Debut director Asif Rustamov treats the heavy topic with remarkable subtlety and discretion, emphasizing the characters’ carefully elaborated psychology.
Direction
Rustamov's debut restraint — every frame withholds and wounds.
Acting
Aghayev's Ali: a fortress of a man finally cracking.
Director
Asif Rustamov
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Post-Soviet Azerbaijani cinema rarely screens internationally; Rustamov emerged from Baku's suppressed 2010s film scene.
The rowing sequences were shot on the Kura River with actual local athletes — the physical exhaustion you see is real.
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