Mahmut & Meryem (Mahmut ile Meryem)

Turkish and Azerbaijani filmmakers joined forces in 2013 for Mahmut and Meryem, a historical drama that marked the two countries' first shared cinema venture. Mehmet Ada Öztekin directed the picture for 24 Kare Prodüksiyon, working from a script by Yerkan Kahraman and Eşref Dinçer that draws on a novel of the same title by Azerbaijani writer Elçin Efendiyev.

Set in the sixteenth century, the plot follows a romance across a religious divide: Mahmut, the Muslim son of the khan of Ganja, falls for Meryem, the daughter of a Christian priest. When her father spirits her away to keep the couple apart, Mahmut sets out after her, and their journey carries the story through the era of the Battle of Chaldiran before ending on a legendary note.

The ensemble brings together Eva Dedova, Aras Bulut İynemli, Cemal Hünal, Fahreddin Manafov, Melahat Abbasova and İlker Kızmaz, mixing Turkish and Azerbaijani performers. The picture opened in Turkish cinemas in March 2013, reached Azerbaijani audiences later that year, and screened again at a Turkish film week held in Zagreb in 2015.