Rafig Guliyev was born on 27 February 1957 in the city of Baku. He has worked at the "Azerbaijanfilm" film studio since 1975. In 1981 he graduated from the Azerbaijan State Institute of Arts, and in 1987 he graduated with honours from the "Cinematography" faculty of the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography. The diploma film "The Vision of Young Mikhail," which he made with director M. Kosyrev, attracted special attention, winning the "Best Film" and "Best Fantasy" awards at the Montreal Film Festival, and was included by the festival's management in the "World Programme of Student Films," being screened at festivals in London, Berlin, Rimini and elsewhere. Since 1991 he has been a top-grade production cinematographer of feature films. Alongside his work at the film studio, from 1999 to 2001 he served as head of television for the Azerbaijani representation of Turkey's STV channel, and organised the broadcast of the programme "From the Caspian to the World," which conveyed the truth about Azerbaijan to the world, in Asian and European countries. In 2001 he created the "Azerbaijan" editorial office at "Lider" television and, from 2001 to 2004, led the production of 237 television films of various genres. Since 1997 he has been engaged in teaching at the "Film and Television Arts" department of the Azerbaijan State University of Culture and Arts. Since 2005 he has been an associate professor of that department. In 2008 he defended his candidate dissertation on the topic "The Visual Heritage of Azerbaijani Silent Cinema." He holds a candidate degree in art history. He is the author of dozens of scholarly articles, teaching programmes and methodological guidelines, and textbooks. In 2005 he was awarded the honorary title of Honoured Art Worker. In 2013, at the second international sports film festival "Zlatibor-2013" held in the city of Zlatibor, Serbia, Rafig Guliyev's film "Chovgan" was awarded the festival's first prize for successfully conveying to audiences Azerbaijan's national sporting traditions. On 1 August 2018 he was awarded the Order of "Glory" for his services to the development of Azerbaijani cinematography.
