Feature film about Karabakh horses premiered in Moscow

A short feature film, Dace, was premiered in the Column Hall of the Central Moscow Hippodrome on January 29. The main goal of the event was the preservation and development of the Karabakh horse breed and the unification of the business elite for this critical mission, Report's Russian bureau informs.

Dace is a story of a love of Latvian artist Dace Strauss for the freedom-loving and graceful Karabakh horses, one of the symbols of Azerbaijan.

The film was directed by Anar Omarov and Ava Ismailova and produced by Ilgar Samadov and Batyr Matakaev.

According to the director, the filmmakers had a goal to present three heroes from different eras. One of these heroes was Yashar, who recalls the Karabakh horses before the war, and after a while, realizes that they are no longer in their homeland. "It took us a while to shoot all this. And we were able to do it - to create our film called 'Dace.' We had many suggestions about the name of the film, but we decided to let it be associated with the name of the artist who paints Karabakh horses," Ava Ismailova noted.

The film starred Azerbaijani and Russian actors and was shot both in Russia and Azerbaijan. Though this is mostly a feature film, it is based on real events, when the main character regains inspiration, having visited an almost abandoned farm of Karabakh horses in Azerbaijan for the first time.

Organizer Damiral Sultanzade noted the importance of holding such events since the Karabakh horse breed is now on the verge of extinction and is going through its difficult period.

"As you know, in 2019, Karabakh horses were presented at an international exhibition called Equiros in Moscow with the support of the First Lady of Azerbaijan Mehriban Aliyeva. The horses arouse great interest among the audience. And it can be said that the idea of creating the film also appeared there," Sultanzade said.

The Karabakh horses, which the viewer will see on the screen, belong to the private horse breeder Yashar Guluzade. He has been breeding these horses for 22 years. Yashar was the one who first introduced Latvian artist Dace Strauss to the ancient breed of riding horses from Nagorno-Karabakh.