Profile of Rustam Ibragimbekov on Famous Like Me

Rustam Ibragimbekov (Rüstəm Məmməd İbrahim oğlu İbrahimbəyov in Azeri) (born February 5, 1939 in Baku, Azerbaijan) is Azerbaijani screenwriter, dramatist and producer, well known beyond his home Azerbaijan and CIS. Ibragimbekov graduated from Azerbaijan Oil and Chemistry Institute, then studied script writing and film directing at VGIK in Moscow. His writing credits include more than 40 film and television scripts, numerous plays and pieces of prose. It’s worth mentioning that nearly all of his scripts eventually were made into full feature or TV films. Among his most noteworthy film work is White Sun of the Desert (1970, Beloye Solntse Pustyni), Interrogation (1979, Dopros), Guard Me, My Talisman (1986, Khrani mena, moi talisman), Close to Eden (Urga, Territory of Love, 1991) Burnt by the Sun (1994, Utomlyonnye Solntsem), The Barber of Siberia (1998, Sibirski Ciryulnik) and East-West (1999).

White Sun of the Desert (1969), for which he co-wrote the script with Valentin Yezhov, has become a cult film in former USSR. Russian cosmonauts consider it a good omen to watch before they prepare for a launch.

Since 1990 Ibragimbekov has been collaborating closely as scriptwriter with Nikita Mikhalkov. "Urga, Territory of Love" (directed by Nikita Mikhalkov) and known in the U.S. as "Close to Eden" won the Golden Lion Award in the Venice Film Festival as well as the Felix Award in Berlin as Best European Film. "Close to Eden" was also nominated for American Film Academy Award (Oscar) in 1992 as Best Foreign Language Film. “Burnt by the Sun” (directed by Nikita Mikhalkov) received an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1994 and "Grand Prix" at 47th Cannes International Film Festival; their latest film “Barber of Siberia” was the most expensive European production of 1997; he is the screenwriter of "East-West”, shared with Sergey Bodrov, for the French director Régis Wargnier, nominated for the "Oscar" award in 1999.

Apart from being a screenwriter Rustam Ibragimbekov is a well-known writer - several Collected Works were published in Russia, Azerbaijan and abroad. He also wrote over ten theatre plays that were staged in numerous theatres. Rustam Ibragimbekov is also credited with several full feature films which he directed.

Ibragimbekov is currently the Chairman of the Confederation of Filmmakers' Unions (CFU), which represents filmmakers from all of the former Soviet republics, secretary of the Russian Filmmakers' Union, and member of European and American Film Academies.

Interview with Rustam Ibragimbekov

Biography of Rustam Ibragimbekov (In Russian)

Rustam Ibragimbekov at the Internet Movie Database

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