Ilgar Najaf was born March 2nd, 1975, in the Ararat region of the Armenian Republic (USSR). After ethnic conflict in 1988 when he was 13, he and his family were forcibly expelled from Armenia and became refugees. In 1993, he entered the Azerbaijan State University of Arts’ film director’s faculty. In 2004, he established the film studio Buta Film where he worked on a number of documentaries and short films as a producer as well as director.
In 2011, Ilgar directed Buta, which won the Asia Pacific Screen Award in 2011 for Best Children’s Feature Film. Pomegranate Orchard (2017) is his second feature film as director.
The Asia Pacific Screen Academy expresses its respect for and acknowledgement of the South East Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. We pay our respects to the Traditional Owners of country, including the custodial communities on whose land works are created and celebrated by the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. We acknowledge the continuing connection to land, waters and communities. We also pay our respects to Elders, past and emerging. We recognise the integral role Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and First Nations peoples continue to play in storytelling and celebration spaces.
