Biography
Rustam Ibragimbekov was born in Baku, Azerbaijan SSR to Mammad Ibrahimbeyov and Fatima Meshadibeyova. His father was a professor of art history who hailed from Shamakhy. Ibragimbekov is the younger brother of Magsud Ibrahimbeyov, an Azerbaijani writer and politician.
Rustam Ibragimbekov 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. Among his most noteworthy film work is White Sun of the Desert (1970, Белое солнце пустыни), Interrogation (1979, Допрос), Guard Me, My Talisman (1986, Храни меня, мой талисман), Urga (Урга, Территория любви, 1991), Burnt by the Sun (1994, Утомлённые солнцем), The Barber of Siberia (1998, Сибирский цирюльник), East/West (1999), Broken Bridges (2004) and Nomad (2005/2007).
White Sun of the Desert (1969), for which he co-wrote the script with Valentin Yezhov, has become a cult film in former USSR. Russian cosmonauts consider it a good omen to watch before they prepare for a launch.
Since the 1970s, Ibragimbekov collaborated closely as scriptwriter 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 also nominated for American Film Academy Award (Oscar) in 1992 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; their film “The Barber of Siberia” was the most expensive European production of 1997. Ibragimbekov was co-screenwriter with Sergei Bodrov of French director Régis Wargnier's Oscar-nominated 1999 movie "East/West". In 2008, Ibragimbekov admitted having effectively stopped working with Mikhalkov due to political disagreements between them.
In 1987 he was a member of the jury at the 15th Moscow International Film Festival.
In addition to being a screenwriter, Rustam Ibragimbekov 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 Ibragimbekov is also credited with several full feature films which he directed.
In 2001, Ibragimbekov 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, Azerbaijan, Moscow, Russia and Los Angeles, California, where he owns a house in Santa Monica.
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