EXCLUSIVE: Screen can reveal the first trailer for Hilal Baydarov’s Sermon To The Void ahead of its world premiere out of competition at Venice film festival.

Sermon to the Void will debut on Friday, September 5 on the Lido. The film follows Shah Ismail, a man who embarks on a quest for the Water of Life, as the world is coming to an end.

Written, shot, edited and directed by Azeri filmmaker Baydarov, it stars Huseyn Nasirov, Maryam Naghiyeva, Rana Asgarova, Elshan Abbasov and Orkhan Iskandarli.

The film is produced by Baydarov for his Ucqar Film, with Carlos Reygadas for Mexico’s Splendor Omnia Studios and Burak Cevik for Turkey’s Fol Films.

It is Baydarov’s third feature titled Sermon To…, after 2023’s Tokyo entry Sermon To The Birds and 2022’s Locarno title Sermon To The Fish.

It is also his second film to debut at Venice, after 2020’s Competition entry In Between Dying.

“While making Sermon To The Void, which took 11 months, it wasn’t until the fifth or sixth month that I found the name of the central character,” said Baydarov. “The others remain unnamed. To this day, I still don’t know who these characters are.”

The director is already working on a next project titled Stone Over Stone, which won the Film Center Montenegro award at Cinelink, the industry platform of Sarajevo Film Festival, last week.

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