Margarita Maleyeva: "Adjar Ibragimov was a person who above all cherished justice"

- Our guest today is journalist and screenwriter Margarita Maleyeva, the widow of famous filmmaker and educationalist Adjar Ibragimov. Hello!

- Good afternoon!

- Thank you for being with us. I would like you to say some words about yourself and your late husband. I've seen several productions by your spouse, among them are "Improper Man", "Weirdo", "My Love, My Sorrow", "Love Affairs", "Stars Don't Fade", "26 Commissioners of Baku", "Her Big Heart", "Two from the Same Block", have I missed something?

- No, these are his main films, which have been included in the "golden fund" of Soviet cinema. Almost all of them.

- Which one is your favorite?

- It's hard to say which one is my favorite because all of them were made by a very talented and professional filmmaker. That is why it's really hard to chose. However some films were produced in association with Turkish poet and dramatist Nazim Hikmet, including three movies you mentioned. The first one is "Two from the Same Block". The script was written by Nazim Hikmet especially for the then-young film director Adjar Ibragimov. Many directors were willing to cooperate with Hikmet, as he was world-famous. He eventually moved to the Soviet Union.

- He was a Turkish communist...

- He was a Turkish communist. He once escaped from prison, where he spent 12 years. He fled to the Soviet Union via Romania. He arrived in our country and decided to settle here. He wrote many plays in the USSR. They were staged all over the Soviet Union. He used to write scripts in Turkey as well, but those films weren't very popular. At the same time Adjar shot films which became famous all over the world. One of them, "Two from the Same Block", was shot at Gorky Studios in association with Azerbaijanfilm. The main idea of the film is that journalists should remain unbiased and that big states often enslave small ones. This idea is typical of Adjar's artistic work. He touched on this idea in "26 Commissioners of Baku", a marvellous movie, and "Stars Don't Fade", devoted to Nariman Nerimanov. Adjar was a remarkable person and he made films about remarkable people.

- It seems like you like all Adjar Ibragimov's films.

- I think I do because all of them were very good and made by a talented person. That is why it's hard to chose.

- Speaking about films written by Hikmet, I would like to mention "Weirdo", a film about savage capitalism. The film was produced in 1978 and devoted to Turkish society. I have just watched it again and understood that it can in fact tell a lot about the present day. Today we suffer from the same savage capitalism. Did your husband know capitalist society so well?

- I think he knew human nature well. He knew how to judge people. He knew which people were remarkable and which were not. In fact he cherished ordinary people in his films.

- Ordinary, but strong.

- Yes, I meant small people struggling against poverty, political persecution. or escape from real life...

- And give up.

- And remains a small person.

- He sells himself as lawyer Akhmed, who also sold himself for some time, but then breaks away.

- Lawyer Akhmed left for a world in which he felt uncomfortable, for the world of money. Then he returned to the world of justice, to the world of common people. He defended people for free, people who fought for justice. I think this topic was typical of Nazim Hikmet's works, but it seemed interesting to Adjar Ibragimov's as well. Hikmet once wrote: "If I didn't burn, if you didn't burn, if we didn't burn, then who would chase the darkness away?" This phrase characterizes Nazim Hikmet's work, and I suppose it corresponds to Adjar Ibragimov's work as well. Adjar Ibragimov has always been a person who above all cherished justice.

- If I had the power I would broadcast this film at least once a month, because it warns people against doing anything for money, against selling oneself and turning one's life into a nightmare.

- I would also like this film to be shown more often. I was one of the screenwriters. I afraid it's a bit irrelevant now... the topic itself.

- I think it's very relevant. I believe it's just that the topic is so acute that some are afraid of it. That is why it is not shown on TV. Fortunately we can always watch it on the Internet. I hope your audience will do it. Speaking about the ethnic peculiarity of Ibragimov's work, one may say that "Improper Man" is a very Russian film. The famous Russian actors Vladimir Samoylov and Irina Miroshnichenko starred in this film. However he made some very good films about life in Turkey and Azerbaijan. The same is true for Georgy Daneliya, who produced very good Georgian films such as "Mimino", "Don't Grieve" and good Russian films "Walking the Streets of Moscow", "Afonya" and "Autumn Marathon". How did your husband become a Russian art director, being an Azerbaijani born in Turkmenistan?

- First of all, this film was made in 1985, he had been working for Mosfilm for 40 years, he lived in Moscow for many years, both his wives were Russian. He became acquainted with Russian culture back in theatre school. Of course he was always in touch with Russian culture, he read books, he watched films, he socialized with Russian actors and directors. Still, he was very fond of Baku, his native country, Azerbaijan, his people. He used to speak Azerbaijani at home, when he had a chance.

- He was fluent in Azerbaijan.

- Yes, he was.

- So he was a man of two cultures.

- He was also acquainted with Vietnamese culture, he lived in Vietnam in 1959-1962. He also wrote several books about this country. Those books were very vivid, colourful and funny. He was very fond of the Vietnamese people.