Synopsis
Ali and Nino (2016) is a historical romance you can watch online on iFILM, directed by Asif Kapadia (Amy, Senna) and drawn from Kurban Said's 1937 novel of the same name. Adam Bakri plays Ali, a Muslim Azerbaijani nobleman, with María Valverde as Nino, a Georgian Christian aristocrat — two people in love as the Caucasus shifts beneath them. The film was a joint Azerbaijani-British production, shot partly on location in Baku.
The story runs from the pre-war calm of 1914 through 1918, when Azerbaijan briefly declared independence and British and Turkish forces converged on the city's oil fields. Ali and Nino met in school; their bond holds through exile in Persia and revolution, but war eventually forces a choice between each other and something larger. Connie Nielsen, Mandy Patinkin and Haluk Bilginer appear in supporting roles.
The source novel's authorship is still disputed between Azerbaijan, Georgia and Austria — a literary argument Kapadia wisely leaves outside the frame. The film runs quiet: close-ups, long pauses, very little gunfire. For a war-era love story that is exactly the right call. Stream Ali and Nino (2016) online on iFILM.
Starring
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