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The text “Kidam & Lightblick Film Present” appears above a Visions du Reel 2024 Official Selection laurel against a black background.
Six men sit in a circle on the carpeted floor of a small room with carpeted walls, chatting, a tray full of tea and a projector between them.
SAMID (subtitled Azerbaijani): Here it is.
Samid, the projectionist, holds out a bulb and hands it to another man. Samid leans over the projector, speaking while gesticulating with his hands and tapping the projector lens. The men begin to hand the bulb around, inspecting it.
SAMID: It throws the image from here to the screen. It is for that.
MAN 1: How many do you need?
MAN 2: Can’t you find any in Azerbaijan?
SAMID: Not here.
Close-up on the face of another man in the room who has a gray mustache.
MAN 3: Is it the only thing stopping you?
SAMID: Yes, a bulb.
Close-up on the face fo another man in the room who also has a trim gray mustache and wears a patterned button-up.
MAN 4: Are the other parts working?
SAMID: Yes, they are.
The camera pans back out to show the six men.
MAN 4: Do you remember Disco Dancer?
MAN 2: Of course.
MAN 4 (Singing): I am a disco dancer.
The other men sing along and mimic instruments.
MAN 5: And the song the girl sings at the beginning of the film...
The men begin to sing the song, waving their hands for emphasis.
Close-up on a hanging lightbulb. Rising smoke begins to waft around the lightbulb.
[MEN CONTINUE TO SING]
Wide shot of a sparsely populated town’s little houses at nighttime.
The words “The Return of the Projectionist” appear over the image, repeated below the English in Azerbaijani.
[SINGING AND LAUGHING CONTINUES]
Saturday, May 3
12 pm | Linder Theater
New York Premiere
Director in Attendance: Orkhan Agazade
2024 | 87 min | Azerbaijan
It’s been 20 years since Samid last screened a film for his village. A TV repairman, Samid longs to bring the magic of cinema back to his bucolic town, taking pains to repair a Soviet-era projector. He trawls snowy mountains in search of an internet signal to order a light bulb, humorously demonstrating his tenacity. As he collaborates with 16-year-old cinephile Ayaz, Samid’s journey becomes a personal odyssey of healing for the elderly projectionist.
The screening will be followed by a talkback with director Orkhan Agazade, moderated by Cornell University assistant professor of anthropology and Mead Film Festival advisor Natasha Raheja.
Check out the full Margaret Mead Film Festival schedule.