During the weekend of May 22-24, 2009, the Houston-Baku Sister City Association welcomed the Houston public for an opening and closing reception on the occasion of the exhibit of the paintings of Azerbaijani artist, the late Rasim Babayev at Gallery3 in the Winterstreet Studio in Houston.

Some 20 paintings were shown to the public including the famous "Blue Camel" paper tile painting which drew a lot of admiration from the exhibition visitors and comments were received how the paintings tend to remind one of the art of both Picasso and Chagall.

On April 25, 2009, two contemporary Azerbaijani films were honored with a Golden Remi award at the International Independent Film Festival (Worldfest-2009) in Houston, Texas. 

The short film House by director Asif Rustamov was honored by the jury with a Golden Remi Award in the category Short Subject Film & Video and the feature film  The 40th Door, which was screened at the AMC theatre on Sunday, April 19 and Tuesday, April 21 in the presence of Film Director Elchin Musaogli Guliyev, received a Golden Remi award in the category Foreign Theatrical Feature Film and Video. The 40th Door tells a story of a 14 year old boy, Rustam, who moves to the city to find a job after his father is killed by the Russian mafia.  After a group of racketeers attacks him and demands a portion of his earnings, Rustam starts to dream of another life as a musician.  He eventually finds an unusual friend who is alone in the darkness, much like himself. The premiere of the movie night was attended by members of the Azerbaijani and Turkish community as well as by many other Houstonians and during the question and answer session after the show, many members of the audience took the unique opportunity to get their questions about the production and the story answered by Elchin Musaoglu himself.

This year, it was for the first time in the history of the Festival and in general for the US, that Azerbaijani movies had been selected for participation in the festival.  Azerbaijan's contribution was made possible by the close cooperation between HBSCA and the Azerbaijani Ministry of Culture and Tourism (Minister, Abulfaz Garayev).

Below is the letter from the Worldfest Chairman & Founding Director Hunter Todd to HBSCA.

Houston International Festival (iFest-2009), which was held during two consecutive weekends April 18-19 and 25-26, was officially opened by the Mayor of the City, Bill White. The Governor of the State of Texas, Rick Perry and his wife, Mrs. Anita Perry also honored the festival with their presence at the opening. As in previous years, Houston-Baku Sister City Association represented the City of Baku at a variety of events. On Thursday, April 16, the President of HBSCA, Mrs. Irada Akhoundova and her husband Dr. Edouard Mamedov attended a gala dinner hosted by the Mayor of Houston and on Friday, April 17, the children of the Walnut Bend school represented Baku at the opening parade under the leadership of HBSCA director Mrs. Kamilla Javanshir.

Art of Baku-born ceramic artist and HBSCA Art Director Saida Hagverdiyeva-Fagala was shown at the Rouge Art Exhibition in Houston, which attracted more than 250 guests during the April 16-17 opening.  Her artwork, which shows a strong connection with her Azerbaijani roots in terms of composition, shape and colors, will be on display till the end of the month.

On March 20, 2009 a radio program about Novruz tradition and featuring Javid, a singer performed at HBSCA organized Novruz celebration and Kamilla Javanshir, President of Azerbaijani Women Club of Houston, was broadcasted on Houston KUHF (Houston branch of National Public Radio) station. You can download this program here. 

HBSCA is proud to announce another exhibition, Metamorphosis, by its Art Director, Saida Fagala. Opening reception is on Saturday, March 7, 2009, 5 - 8 pm at Gallery 3, 2101 Winter St, Suite C3 (East end of the Building on the ground floor), Houston, TX 77007. Exhibition will be on view March 7 - 21, 2009. Closing reception is on March 22, 2009.