Rustam Ibragimbekov

Rustam Mammad Ibrahim oglu Ibragimbekov (Azerbaijani: Rüstəm İbrahimbəyov; Russian: Рустам Ибрагимбеков; born 5 February 1939) is a Soviet, Azerbaijani screenwriter, dramatist and producer, well known beyond his home Azerbaijan and the former Soviet Union. He is the chair of the Cinematographers' Union of Azerbaijan and director of the Ibrus Theatre. Rustam Ibrahimbeyov was born in Baku, Azerbaijan SSR. His father was a professor of art history who hailed from Shamakhi. Ibrahimbeyov is the younger brother of Magsud Ibrahimbeyov, an Azerbaijani writer and politician. Rustam Ibrahimbeyov graduated from Azerbaijan Oil and Chemistry Institute, then studied script writing and film directing at the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography in Moscow. His writing credits include more than 40 film and television scripts, numerous plays and pieces of prose, and nearly all of his scripts were eventually made into full feature or TV films. Since the 1970s, he has collaborated with Nikita Mikhalkov. Urga, Territory of Love, directed by Mikhalkov and released in North America 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 nominated for American Film Academy Award (Oscar) in 1995 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 Prize of the Jury at 47th Cannes International Film Festival. Ibrahimbeyov 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 Ibrahimbeyov is also credited with several full feature films which he directed. In 2001, Ibrahimbeyov founded Ibrus, a cultural centre in Baku functioning as a theatre where plays are acted in both Azeri and Russian. 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 Film Academy and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He splits his time between Baku, Moscow, and Los Angeles.