Film 3: “Behind the Closed Doors” Director: Rana Akhmad Description: The film is about the packed working-class community of Darnagul. Most regions of the country are underdeveloped and there is a big lack of job and education opportunities for people. It is a general practice that young people move to Baku to get a higher education and stay there further for job opportunities. Many other labor workers also migrate to Baku either due to the lacking income potential of the regions or the wider job market for trading and service. The promising life conditions of the capital are another reason for the mass migration. The ongoing trend is actual for the past 20-30 years and combined with the forced migration, the situation lead to over-population and high centralization of the capital city where already around 5 million people (taking into account the whole peninsula) are residing (officially statistical numbers are 2.6 million which is modified/miscalculated due to different reasons). Overpopulation forced many communities to find homes on the outskirts of Baku which are under very poor conditions and people live in very anti-sanitary settings. Toilets are usually public where most people use the same toilet in the neighborhood (mostly outside the apartments) and people mostly do cheap labor work to survive. They mostly sell goods or repair things for so cheap and they open a bazaar/market every Sunday to offer their services or sell their goods. Packed neighborhoods in significantly poor conditions are one of the many other negative effects of overpopulation including gas cutoffs, waste management issues, water shortages, and traffic congestion. This project was realized in collaboration with the Copenhagen Architecture Festival (thanks to the support of The New Democracy Fund). The full version of the film and all films that are produced within the scope of the project can be found on cafx.dk.

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