44

44 (2026)

The events depicted in the film embody the spirit, determination, and self-sacrifice of a generation that stood up to defend the Homeland, as exemplified by the special forces. At the center of the plot stand Special Forces officer Rashad Khalilov, Zeynep Ozdemir—a Turkish orthopedic surgeon working in Azerbaijan—and Colonel Ramazan Karimov, commander of the special operations group.

Date of release
2026-10-15
TMDB
5.0 / 10 (1)
Runtime
2h 38m
Genres
War, Action, Drama
Director
Ismail Safarali, Maksym Smetana

Casting

Interesting facts

44 is a 2026 Azerbaijani war drama film directed by Ismayil Safarali and Maxim Smetana from a screenplay by Anar Alakbarov and Ismayil Iman. Set during the 44-day Second Nagorno-Karabakh War of 2020, it follows Rashad Khalilov, an officer of the Azerbaijani special forces, and Zeynep Özdemir, a Turkish orthopaedic surgeon working in Ganja, as the war moves towards the battle for Shusha. Ilgar Musayev, Hikmat Rahimov, Mehriban Zaki and Gurban Ismayilov appear in supporting roles.

Production

Development of 44 began about five years before its release; according to the producers, two years were spent writing the screenplay and a further year on pre-production. The screenplay was written by Anar Alakbarov, who also served as the film's artistic director, and Ismayil Iman.

The casting of Turkish actress Özge Gürel was announced in August 2026. Before filming, the actors underwent tactical training at a special forces training base. Mehriban Zaki said that recreating events that remained in living memory required sincerity rather than conventional acting technique, while Gurban Ismayilov said he had watched footage from the war to prepare emotionally.

Principal photography lasted 14 months and took place at more than 130 locations in Baku, Absheron, Aghdam, Jabrayil, Fuzuli, Goranboy, Ganja, Khojaly, Khojavend, Khizi, Lerik and Shusha. The production used 2,500 military personnel, including 42 special forces soldiers, more than 150 units of military, engineering and aviation equipment, and about 300,000 rounds of training and live ammunition, along with pyrotechnics and smoke effects.

The 112 hours of footage were edited over a year into a film running 2 hours and 38 minutes. Specialists from 13 countries – the United States, Germany, Austria, Belarus, the United Kingdom, Georgia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Poland, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and Estonia – worked on stunts, pyrotechnics, sound, make-up and visual effects.

The score was composed by Ruslan Aghababayev, with Vugar Jamalzade as music producer. It was first recorded at New York Production Studios and then in Baku by the symphony orchestra of the Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater conducted by Eyyub Guliyev; the final mixing and mastering were done at AIR Studios in London. Work on the music took 394 hours.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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