Timur Ismailov is an award-winning film director, screenwriter and producer based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He also does editing, color-grading and occasionally cinematography.

Timur Ismailov was born and grew up in Baku (former USSR, the capital of Azerbaijan) in 1977.
After the secondary school he studied social and political sciences. But in 1995 he moved with his family to Istanbul (Turkey), and after a year to Kaliningrad (Russia), where he studied economics.

In 2009 Timur graduated from the NFTA (The Netherlands Film Academy in Amsterdam), faculty of film directing, with his film Bingo, which he both wrote and directed. This film was enthusiastically received by a broad audience, got laudatory reviews of the film critics and personal compliments of several famous film directors and producers.

Ken Loach on BINGO: “I think it’s a lovely film. Funny and sharp and touching. The actors are all good, and we all enjoyed it. The ending is very formal but also very original, with Bingo’s family looking straight at the camera.”
Jan Harlan, the producer of Kubrick, and Donall McCusker, the producer of “The Hurt Locker” (the Academy Award in 2010) were both very enthusiastic about the film and gave it the Grand Prix at Skena Up International Student Film & Theatre Festival (Prishtina, Kosovo, December 10, 2010).
Bingo went on to screen at over 60 film festivals around the world winning over 20 awards including the Best Dutch Graduation Film and the prize of film critics of Russia, Grand prix in Taipei, Tirgu Mures, Gijon. Besides it was The Netherlands Submission for Student Oscars 2010.

After the graduation Timur worked with a famous Dutch director Jos Stelling as a script-editor and dialogue writer on his feature film The Girl and Death with major Russian film stars – Renata Litvinova and Sergey Makovetsky. The film received ‘Gouden Kalf’, the Dutch equivalent of the Oscar for the Best Feature Film 2012.  Then Timur went on writing a screenplay for a major international Russian-Swiss co-production.

In 2014 Timur wrote, directed and co-produced a middle-length feature film titled Above & Below  which won the award of the Best Film of the CIS-countries (the countries of the former USSR) at the forum of the young filmmakers ‘Umud’. In 2016 Timur made a short film Advertisement with a major Dutch film star Raymond Thiry. The project was a part of the special programme initiated by the Dutch Minister of Culture Mrs. Bussenmakers in order to support young talent.
Currently Timur is financing his debut feature film and making a feature documentary.

Awards:

BINGO (selection)

Pathé  Tuschinski Award – the Best Dutch Graduation Film – awarded by the Union of the Dutch Film Critics – the Netherlands Film Festival (Utrecht, September 25, 2009)

Best Director Award & Nomination for Best Actor – Sergiu Voloc (the leading actor in Bingo)- ArtKino, the All-Russian Festival of Short Auteur Films (Moscow, September 27, 2009)

Special Prize of the Students Jury & Audience Award – International Festival of Student Films VGIK (Moscow, November 7, 2009)

Best Film – Scenecs IFF (Amersfoort, the Netherlands, November 7, 2009)

Grand Prix – Alter-Native, the International Festival of Short Films (Tîrgu–Mureş, Romania, November 8, 2009)

Special mention Jury (diploma) – Sleepwalkers International Student and Short Film Festival (Tallinn, Estonia, November 15, 2009)
Jury comment: For being courageous enough to deal with a difficult topic in a cheerful way.

Best Short – the 47th International Film Festival Gijon (Gijon, Spain, November 28, 2009)

Golden Lion Award – the first prize – Taipei International Festival of Student Films (Taipei, Taiwan, December 12, 2009)

Cinecourts Award – purchase and broadcasting of the film by the CINECOURTS program of Cine Cinema & French TV channels – Festival d’Angers Premiers Plans (Anger, France, January 30, 2010)

Selection Clermont Ferrand 2010 (the most important festival of short films)
The Netherlands Submission for Student Oscars 2010

Audience Award – My Europe Traveling Film Festival – screenings in 20 cities all over Europe – (January – March 2010)

Special Jury Prize – International Film Festival Shaken’s Stars (Almaty, Kazachstan, May 16, 2010)

Prize of the Film Critics – (awarded by the Union of the Russian Film Critics)- Kinotavr Film Festival (Sochi, Russia, June 9, 2010)

Special mention Jury (diploma) – Tel-Aviv International Student Film Festival (Tel-Aviv, Israel, June 13, 2010)

Best European Film – Arcipelago International Festival of Short Films (Rome, Italy, June 24, 2010)

Cultural Expression Award – FBCU Brazilian Student Film Festival (Sao Paulo, Brazil, August 2010)

Best Medium-length Short 2010 – 25th Brest European Short Film Festival (Brest, France, November 12, 2010) 

Best Film – Skena Up International Student Film & Theatre Festival (Prishtina, Kosovo, December 10, 2010) – the award is given by Jan Harlan (the producer of Kubrick’s most films) & Donall McCusker (the producer of “The Hurt Locker” which won the Academy Award in 2010)

Award ABOVE & BELOW

Best Film of the CIS-countries (the countries of the former USSR) at the forum of the young filmmakers ‘Umud’ (Bishkek in October 2016)