A Spanish Maria Valverde will star in the film "Ali and Nino"

The star in the film "Ali and Nino", made on the novel by Gurban Said,  ill be a Spanish  actress Maria Valverde; she will play the role of  Nino, the actress wrote on her  arrival in Baku  on  her  microblogs Twitter and Instagram. She  shared a photo in preparation for filming. The executive producer of the film is Leyla Aliyeva, and  the film will finance Heydar Aliyev Foundation.

The novel "Ali and Nino" is  a love story  of Azerbaijani  man and Georgian women in the old pre-revolutionary Baku. Events take place in Azerbaijan, Georgia and Persia immediately after the First World War. Against the background of bloodshed, wars and riots  there is a  love triangle involving the  Georgian Nino Kipiani,  the Azerbaijani Ali Khan Shirvanshir, and  the Armenian Melik Nahararyan.

The novel very colorfully describes the political, ethnic and cultural life of the oil capital of the world of the early 20th century. To realize this project  Heydar Aliyev Foundation invited an Indian film director, who lives in England, a Directed  Asif Kapadia and  co-star Adam Bakri (Ali Khan Shirvanshir.)

The first is the director of a number of films made in the UK. As for Adam Bakri , he is an ethnic Arab, originally from Israel. Screenwriter of the film  is  a famous British writer and director Christopher Hampton, and Producer - Chris Tayker.  The novel "Ali and Nino" was published in 1937 in German, and very soon  was translated into many languages.

*  There is not an accurate information about the identity of the author of this novel - Qurban Sayid or Mohammed Asad bey. Most researchers believe that the real name of the author  is Leo Nossenbaum. He was born in Azerbaijan,  and after the revolution he  emigrated to Germany with their relatives. In Berlin, he graduated from high school and university. He then worked in the newspaper "World Literature".  He spoke Turkish, Persian, Russian and Arabic. In 1929, he wrote a book "Oil and Blood in the East." Later he published a number of other works. When Germany began the persecution of the Jews, Nossenbaum concealed his  origin under the pseudonym Kurban Said.   But there are people in Azerbaijan  who believe that Kurban Sayid  is alias  Yusif Vazir Chemenzeminli. -16D—