Ilgar Najaf

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.