‘Sonuncu’ in Azerbaijani means ‘The Last One’ ‐ but for Buta it was a hugely successful debut. This short film, nominated at this year’s Cannes Festival, represented Buta Film’s first foray into feature film after producing more than 80 documentary projects. Describing the fate of the last surviving World War II veteran in a remote village, a man who has outlived his entire family and is now alone, it’s a philosophical fable, a war story shorn of the usual clichs that infect war movies.

It forms the highlight of an evening devoted to the nine films short-listed for the Short Film Palme d’Or.