Mirbala Salimli

Mirbala Salimli was born in the village of Gubaly, Hajigabul.

He studied at the Department of Cinema and Dramatic Acting of the Azerbaijan State Institute of Arts (1981-1985), the Department of Theater Directing of the Boris Shchukin Moscow Higher Theater School (1990-1995), and the Department of Film Directing of the Moscow Higher Courses of Scriptwriters and Directors (1999-2001, workshop of Alexei German and S. Karmalita).

He received master classes from director Krzysztof Zanussi (Poland) and film playwright D. Benke (Germany) within the framework of the Avanti program (2003-2004, Switzerland), and from film playwright Claire Downes (Great Britain) within the framework of the IFA-SC program (2006-2007, Switzerland).

He worked as an actor (1985-1990), production director (1995-1997), and chief director (1997-2026) at the Sheki State Drama Theater. He directed more than 20 performances (1985-2007).

As a cameraman at the Mir Iskusstva Creative Union (Moscow), he shot up to 15 documentaries: “Testament” (2000), “Mayakovsky’s Merry Year” (2003), “Sons of Petrov-Vodkin” (2003), “The Last Day of Anastasia Tsvetaeva” (2004), “Marshal of the 3 Coronations” (2005), “Arkhangelsk” (2005), “The Abduction of Europe” (2005), “The Sorcerer Daniil Kharms” (2005), “The Right Mayakovsky” (2005), “Sergey Yesenin” (2005), “The River of Time by Boris Zaitsev” (2006), “Double Star” (2006), “The King of Still Life Ilya Mashkov” (2006), “Kulbin - the Father of Russian Futurism” (2008). As a teaching project, he directed the film "Man and the Fly" (1999). He worked as a cameraman in the Russian documentary "Special Resistance Experience" (2006), as a director and cameraman in the documentaries "Chronicle of Moscow Sculpture" (2006), "Olvia - The Mystery of Happiness" (2010), and as an intern director in the film "It's Hard to Be a God" (2013, directed by Alexei German).

He was awarded the "Golden Dervish" award (2009) for the play "The Miser" (Moliere), the "Zirve" award (2014) for the play "Lovers' Battle in Hell" (Ilyas Efendiyev), the "Haldun Taner" medal of TURKSOY (2015) for the play "... And the Mill Would Turn" (Haldun Taner), the "Best Full-length Feature Debut Film - Golden Fairy" award (2018) for the film "Red Garden", and the "Artist" medal (2023).

He is an Honored Artist (2012).