Rza Rzayev was born on 17 May 1973 in the Shahbuz district of Nakhchivan ASSR. Having graduated from the Faculty of Law of the Institute of Management and Business, Rza Rzayev received a second higher education at the Academy of Public Administration. In 2014 he began a master''s degree at the Faculty of Cinema and Television of Beykent University in Turkey. In 2015 the New York Film Academy came to Turkey to teach a course for the first time in its history, and Rza Rzayev studied the finer points of directing at the academy under Shelton Gilbert, a legendary director of the 1980s. Until 2014 he worked as an adviser at the Baku representative office of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic. He first appeared on screen in director Rovshan Almuradli''s film "Enough, Don''t Cry!". He then played the character Rashad in the TV series "Girl Without an Address". After that series he withdrew from the film world for a time, turning down all offers. After a long break he was invited to play the lead role — the son of Javad Khan — in the film "Javad Khan", but for various reasons chose not to take the part. When director Agil M. Guliyev filmed the video for "Sari Gelin", he was invited to play a Turkish commander and appeared in the clip. He was then invited to the film "Niyyat" ("Intention"), where he played a gambler. In 2012, at the invitation of director Elkhan Jafarov, he was cast in the film "Dolu" ("Hail"), where his portrayal of the character "Dragon" won the love of millions. In 2015 he appeared as Javanshir in the director''s other film, "Unfinished Memories". Rza Rzayev began his directing career in 2016, starting production on his first screen work as screenwriter and director — the film "Unworn Shoes". The film is dedicated to the memory of the martyrs who gave their lives in the April Clashes of 2016. The leading roles in the film were played by well-known actress Gulzar Gurbanova as the mother, schoolboy Daniz Hasanov as Hasrat in childhood, and actor Bahruz Vagifoglu as Hasrat in adulthood. The film portrays the tense, psychologically strained lives of internally displaced people who, driven from their homeland, have settled in student dormitories. Having lost her young husband and infant daughter, the mother lives with her son Hasrat in an unrenovated room. She barely speaks. She counts the days in deep silence, dreaming of her martyred husband and waiting for the moment she can return to her ancestral homeland, watching her son in profound silence. Hasrat quietly says: "When Karabakh is liberated, I''ll take my father and sister and we''ll go back to our village..." At the end of the film the mother, in a wheelchair, meets a soldier who has lost both legs in front of the "Unworn Shoes" museum in Khankendi. She donates a pair of shoes to the museum. The film''s score was composed by the well-known Russian composer Vyacheslav Shulin. On 15 March 2017 a preview screening for representatives of the arts and media was held, and the film received high praise. On 16 January 2018, with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the film "Unworn Shoes" was presented to the wider public at the Nizami Cinema Centre. The film was warmly received by audiences and arts representatives, and Rza Rzayev''s professional directing work was highly praised.
