Ostia! - Road Journal

Last weekend while some in the Western world were rolling Cadbury’s mini eggs around their mouths, trying to reach the chocolate core, I was up in a dusty attic of a semi-abandon building in Baku, Azerbaijan. I was directing a promotional documentary film for YARAT! in the shell of their truly unique studio space. As shafts of light penetrated foggy panes and cigarette smoked meandered through bric-a-brac, we were rolling camera trying to reach the core of what makes this team of Azerbaijan’s contemporary-art-superheroes tick. We conducted interviews in the local language (Azeri) with the aid of our interpreter and some impromptu traveller’s hand-language and pigeon English. It’s always exciting to explore a new country through her local people and when this world is presented by some of her best artists you end up with a pretty interesting kaleidoscope of mental images to take home. Luckily I always had my camera near and between takes was able to grab a few snapshots to share.

Some images from around the docklands of Baku.

This is the Heydar Aliyev Centre by the biggest name in modern architecture, Zaha Hadid. It’s scheduled to be finished yesterday, but I think they have a few more days to go. Would love to go back and see the final result.

I met this gentle old man while filming a pocket of the city where soviet-era buildings still told of the not-so-distant past.

This place is called Gobustan where we were shown 10,000 yr old cave drawings. It’s a UNESCO world heritage sight and millions of years of wind, rain and seismic activity have caused house-sized chunks of limestone to break free and roll down the hill creating caves for men (and ladies).

The oil field wasteland that helps fuel this country’s now-booming economy.