Queer cinema emerges in AzerbaijanCEFR B2
4 Dec 2025
Adapted from Adila Aghayeva, Global Voices • CC BY 3.0
Photo by Zulfugar Karimov, Unsplash
Azerbaijan has experienced frequent violations of LGBTQI+ rights, a rise in hate speech from some state officials, and systemic marginalisation that affects the arts and cinema. Public debate often opposes queer themes; critics such as Ayaz Salayev and Sevda Sultanova have warned against foreign or award‑seeking influences in local film culture. Mainstream Azerbaijani cinema rarely portrays LGBTQI+ lives positively.
Independently made short films and documentaries are now beginning to respond. These works, modest in scale but radical in existence, record lives that were long erased and start to produce a queer cinematic history. Filmmakers include local trans and non-binary authors, graduates of the Azerbaijan State University of Culture and Arts, and some foreign directors.
- All Monsters Are Human (Hugh Davies, Helen Spooner) documents Roma, Lady Cat and Lisa and the memory of Kristina.
- Sebastian (Samad Ismayilov, 2017) and films by Vusala Hajiyeva explore transition and leaving for safety.
- Queer Destiny: Avaz Hafizli examines the killing of activist Avaz Hafizli (murdered 22 February 2022) and notes that friends were barred from the trial and the hate crime dimension was ignored; the killer received a nine-and-a-half-year sentence.
QueerRadar reports that between 2013 and 2023 at least 15 LGBTQI+ people were attacked with weapons and 12 were killed, numbers likely underreported due to weak investigations and no hate crime classification in law. While there is no clear New Queer Cinema movement, these independent films challenge heteronormative representation and examine home, belonging and survival.
Difficult words
- marginalisation — treatment that makes a group less important
- hate speech — words that attack a person or group
- hate crime — a crime motivated by bias against someone
- systemic — existing as part of a whole system
- documentaries — a film that records real events or people
- transition — a process of change from one state
- underreported — report less often than it really happened
- heteronormative — assuming heterosexual relationships are normal or default
Tip: hover, focus or tap highlighted words in the article to see quick definitions while you read or listen.
Discussion questions
- How might independent queer films affect public debate and visibility in Azerbaijan? Give reasons or examples.
- What challenges for fair trials and justice does the article describe? Refer to the film's findings.
- What steps could improve reporting and investigation of attacks, based on the problems mentioned?
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