FILMED IN AZERBAIJAN

The history of the Azerbaijani cinematography's origins is full of controversial information. Cinema history researchers claim that it begins not from year 1916, when the film "In the Realm of Oil and Millions" was screened, or year 1923, when the first cinema production opened in Baku as a propaganda instrument of the Bolsheviks, but much earlier. Historians have discovered that the first "moving pictures" were shown on Azerbaijani screens back in 1898.

Then, just three years after the invention of this art form by the Lumiere brothers, their "advanced cinematography" appeared in Baku. The first public film screening took place on 2 August. It was organized by photographer Alexander Michon. He produced video clips of life of his native Baku, including "Fire on Bibiheybat", "Guser on the Balaxani-Sabuncu field", "Caucasian dance" and a humorous one "Gotcha". Michon also achieved success by showing these films in France. Pursuant to the directive of Heydar Aliyev dated 18 December 2000, 2 August in Azerbaijan is the birthday of the national cinematography and is celebrated as the Day of Cinema. Thus, if we take as the basis the first show of video clips about the life of Baku, the Azerbaijani cinema is already 115 years old!

Much needs to be done 

"Let me put this straight. Cinema does not get old with age, but rather it gets younger. It is one of the few art forms that is gaining weight, scale and develops. And today we can be proud of the fact that there is such a small age difference between the birth of the world cinema and the cinema of Azerbaijan." Thus began a conversation between R + and Musfiq Hatamov, the director of the Cafar Cabbarli studio Azarbaycanfilm. What is the contemporary cinematography like? What are the successes, plans and challenges of the national cinema industry? 

 "Today we are facing a great many goals and tasks that are to be resolved in the short-term. Back in August 2008 Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on endorsing the "State programme for developing the Azerbaijani cinema in years 2008-2018". The state programme reflects measures to develop all areas in cinema. However, the biggest and most important of them is related to strengthening and upgrading the material and technical base of the Azarbaycanfilm studio. The French company CTM will being dealing with the cinema studio's reconstruction as soon as this September," Hatamov said. 

Along with creating a cinema centre at the moment the studio works on strengthening its human resources. At the initial stage leading companies that produce cinema joined their efforts to this end with the Azarbaycanfilm studio and created the Guild of Producers.

"Best specialists from the local cinema companies were recruited for the work with Azarbaycanfilm: editors, cameramen, sound directors. This way we managed to avoid an influx of personnel from Georgia and Iran into our cinema industry.

"One of the main pre-requisites for the film to reach the world cinema market is its technical level. Therefore, one of the goals set is to provide and prepare human resources for this. At present, 12 young specialists work in the studio: 10 as cameramen and two as directors. The majority of them have prizes of international festivals for the best directing or camera work. As you can see, the doors of our studio are open for young talents," Hatamov pointed out.

Competitive selection 

In order to attract young experts back to their motherland the Azerbaijani Guild of Producers announced a script competition, "Broad view". The winner was the "Motives" film presented by the Adarifilms cinema company. With sponsorship of the Azerbaijani Ministry for Culture and Tourism the Azarbaycanfilm studio already began producing it. Young producer Rufat Hasanov's short film "Sunday" has already been completed as part of the project. Five more young producers from Azerbaijan, who received education in Europe, the USA and Russia and continue to work there, will be involved in the production of the remaining films. In the future these talented specialists are to be involved in the production of feature films. 

Currently the Azarbaycanfilm studio has announced another competition for the Xazar film project. This is a joint project of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Culture, cinema studios and a number of independent cinema producers, who will be invited to Azerbaijan. 

"For the competition young producers may present their projects of feature films concerning the topic of the Caspian sea. A jury comprised of nine foreign producers will select the script. The budget is 250,000 manat. The scripts, albeit rather few of them, have already been submitted. We expect this to be a film made in cooperation with foreign companies, which is also an important step to developing cinematography. We already have a successful experience of jointly producing a film. Quite recently we made jointly with Turkey the film "Mahmud and Maryam", which we be available to viewers in the USA, Japan, Turkey and eight European countries," Hatamov said. 

To show oneself 

Taking the Azerbaijani cinema to the world cinema market is not an easy task, but work is under way to this end, Hatamov said. Today the studio seeks to access the cinema markets in Turkey, Iran and Europe. That said, the Azerbaijani cinema is already represented internationally, as evidenced by the constant participation of Azerbaijani cinematographers in international cinema festivals. This year alone Azerbaijani films were shown in more than 20 foreign cinema festivals. But in order to enter the European market one must be a member of the European Cinema Support Fund and we already submitted an application for membership in the organization. By the end of September it is expected to be considered.

Hatamov named the high level of taxes levied on foreign companies that cooperate with Azarbaycanfilm as one of the national cinema industry's problems. In his opinion, the state treasury only stands to gain from cancelling taxes. As a result, there will be more investment in the national cinema industry, which will cause it to grow and to bring more revenue.

The studio director also talked about the films that are in the pipeline. For example, recently they finished shooting a feature film directed by Asif Rustamov, "Downstream". It has now to go through the editing stage. This week the work will start on shooting the film "Colonel's treasure or the last stop" by famous director Fikrat Aliyev. Work also continues on the docudrama "Mystery" by Elmaddin Xayyam.

Incidentally, the simultaneous presentation of the film "The Hail" by Elxan Cafarov was held in 32 regions of Azerbaijan on 2 August. Such a demonstration was held in Azerbaijan for the first time and was made possible thanks to the set of widescreen monitors installed in cinema theatres and cultural centres in districts. From September the film will be available for sale and rent. Also on the Day of Cinema famous Azerbaijani film director Eldar Quliyev's "Notes of a dervish" was presented in the Nizami film theatre. 

"If God wills the day will come when the Azerbaijani cinema will regain its former glory and authority and we will again be proud for our cinema. We have a large number of good products that will entertain our viewers. Our cinema is not a one-day entertainment clip. Our cinema is an irreplaceable art through which moral and cultural values of this generation's Azerbaijan are transferred to the next generations in this global world," Hatamov said as he congratulated all people in the cinema industry with this remarkable day.