Baku to mark Day of National Cinema

By Amina Nazarli - AzerNews 

The “Day of National Cinema” celebration will be held at Baku’s Nizami Cinema on July 31, commemorating an August 2 professional holiday honoring cinema workers.

The cinema will feature “City motives 4.1,” a film consisting of five short films shot by five talented Azerbaijani film directors, all of whom studied film abroad.

The event will also feature such films as “Neighbor,” directed by Anar Abbasov and filmed by Aleksey Shepilev; “Sorrow,” directed by Rufat Hasanov and filmed by Mikhail Benkin; “At the top and bottom,” directed by Timur Ismayilov and filmed by Nadir Mehtiyev; “Dmitrov street, 86,” directed by Jafar Akhundzade and filmed by Alishir Hamidhojayev; as well as “Honor of an officer” directed by Vugar Islamzade and filmed by Jabrayil Rafiyev.

The history of film production in Azerbaijan goes back to 1898, when French Lumière brothers, the first filmmakers in history brought their invention in Baku.

French photographer and cameraman Alexandre Michon, who lived in Baku more than 25 years, is regarded as one of the founders of the Azerbaijani film industry.

During his time in Azerbaijan between 1879 and 1905, Michon opened a photo studio and established a photography club in Baku, spending his time photographing landscapes, oil extraction and refining processes, oil well blowouts, and oil field fires.

"Fire on Bibi-Heybat" film shot by Michon in 1898 is considered to be one of the first films in the world cinema. The film was featured in Paris at the International Film Festival.

The first national film "In the realm of oil and millions" was shot in Azerbaijan in 1916, funded by local oilmen. The first Azerbaijani comedy "Arshin Mal Alan," based on the operetta of the great national composer Uzeyir Hajibeyov, was also filmed that same year.

The first film studio in Azerbaijan was established in 1922, which was the forerunner to Azerbaijan’s current film production company – Azerbaijanfilm.

A State program on developing Azerbaijani cinema for the years 2008-2018 is currently aiding in the expansion of modern national cinema.

Films like “The Steppe Man,” directed by national filmmaker Shamil Aliyev and “Nabat,” produced at the Jafar Jabbarly Azerbaijanfilm studio have already been featured at many prestigious film festivals throughout the world thus far.

The Steppe Man is about a young man who lives in a remote area on the steppe and is closely tied to nature. A chance meeting with a city girl opens a new and unusual page in his life.

Nabat was shot in 2014 by Azerbaijanfilm. It is dedicated to the Karabakh war, which resulted after Armenia's unjustified territorial claims against Azerbaijan.