HOLY COW

Tapdig has a dream of bringing a European cow into his picturesque village in Azerbaijan to improve the condition of his poor family. He decides to call it Madona. His passion unsettles the traditional community, the old men see a threat in having a foreign cow among them as they say its milk is full of chemicals.

Even his wife Vafa does not want to take care of such a strange breed. But Tapdig is ready to risk it all and challenges the conservative mentality to open up and rethink the attitude. How do human beings handle change while remaining true to their own traditions?

HOLY COW questions the prejudices against the unknown and how ready are we to accept a newcomer.

Imam Hasanov is an emerging filmmaker from Quba, Azerbaijan. He studied film directing at the Baku State University of Arts and Culture. After his graduation he successfully participated in Studio Ateliers Varan in Tbilisi, Georgia in 2006 – directed by Jean Rush. Thereafter he directed several theater productions at the Baku Camera Theater, including the play ALI AND NINO. Since 2008, he has regularly directed films for Azerbaijani state television. In 2014 Imam was selected for BERLINALE TALENTS.

Director
Imam Hasanov

Cinematography
Sarvar Javadov

Editor
Philipp Gromov

Sound
Jalil Mamadov

Producer
Andra Popescu
Veronika Janatková
Stefan Kloos

Music
Le Trio Joubran
Fikret Nasirov

Color Grading
Jan Ali Moravec

Production Crew Azerbaijzan
Alakbar Aliyev
Matanat Babayeva

Production Crew Germany
Loraine Blumenthal
Ali Aliyev, Raji Baxishov
Anja Dziersk
Corine Gasser
Michaela Pňačeková

Re-recording Mixing
Martin Blauber

Sound Design
Thomas Wallmann
Niklas Kammertöns

Supervising Editors
Francois Scullier
Per K. Kirkegaard

Production
Free Art
Kloos & Co. Medien

Co-Production
ZDF in collaboration with ARTE

Commissioning Editor ZDF /ARTE
Ann-Christin Hornberger

Doha Film Institute
Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg
Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program

World Premiere
IDFA – International Documentary Filmfestival Amsterdam 2015, The Netherlands

Further Festivals (Selection)
Hot Docs International Documentary Festival 2016, Canada
South East European Film Festival 2016, Los Angeles, USA
DocPoint Helsinki Documentary Film Festival 2016, Finland
One World – International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival 2016, Prague, Czech Republic
Crossing Europe Film Festival 2016, Linz, Austria
Transilvana International Film Festival 2016, Cluj, Romania
This Human World – Vienna International Human Rights Film Festival 2016, Vienna, Austria
Millenium Docs Against Gravity 2016, Poland
CinéDoc-Tbilisi – International Documentary Film Festival 2016, Georgia
Anûû-rû Aboro International Documentary Film Festival, New Caledonia, France
Image Festival Baku, Azerbaijan

Buy DVD here: www.riseandshine-shop.de/produkt/holy-cow
Watch online here: www.vimeo.com/ondemand/holycowenglishsubtitles