Director
Hilal Baydarov
January 1, 1987 · Baku, Azerbaijan SSR, USSR [now Azerbaijan]
Hilal Baydarov (Azerbaijani: Hiləl Baydarov; Russian: Хилал Байдаров; born 1987; Baku) is an Azerbaijan filmmaker, cinematographer and editor.
During his high school years, he won the national championships of mathematics twice in 2004 and 2005. In 2011 he lead the Azerbaijani team at the informatics olympiad. After a master in computer sciences, Baydarov studied at the Sarajevo Film Academy under acclaimed Hungarian filmmaker Béla Tarr before going on to make his feature debut HILLS WITHOUT NAMES (2018), which premiered at the Montreal World Film Festival, the same year his documentary debut BIRTHDAY won the Docu Talent Award at the Sarajevo Film Festival. Since then Hilal has completed an award-winning trilogy of documentaries set in Katech Azerbaijan: WHEN THE PERSIMMONS GREW (2019) which won the Heart of Sarajevo for Best Documentary at the Sarajevo and the Interreligious Award and Special Jury Mention at Visions du réel; MOTHER AND SON (2019), which premiered in the main competition at IDFA; and NAILS IN MY BRAIN (2020) which premiered at Cinema du réel. His second feature film IN BETWEEN DYING (2020) became a participant in the man competition of the 77th Venice Film Festival.
Often works with
Orkhan Iskandarli
6 titles together
In Between Dying, Sermon to the Fish, Crane Lantern
Huseyn Nasirov
6 titles together
In Between Dying, Sermon to the Fish, Crane Lantern
- M
Maryam Naghiyeva
5 titles together
In Between Dying, When the Persimmons Grew, Birthday
Rana Asgarova
4 titles together
In Between Dying, Sermon to the Fish, Sermon to the Birds
- N
Narmina Hasanova
2 titles together
In Between Dying, Hills Without Names
- E
Elshan Abbasov
2 titles together
Crane Lantern, Sermon to the Void
Full filmography · 11
Sermon to the Void
Director
2026
Sermon to the Birds
Director and Writer
2023
Sermon to the Fish
Director and Writer
2022
Crane Lantern
Writer and Director
2022
In Between Dying
Director and Writer
2021
Nails in My Brain
cast and Director
2020
When the Persimmons Grew
cast and Director
2019
Mother and Son
cast and Director
2019
One Day in Selimpasha
Director
2018
Birthday
Director
2018
Hills Without Names
Writer and Director
2018