"THE MOVIEGOER FALLS ILL"

Whatever you say, cinema in Baku and in the whole of Azerbaijan is quite a painful issue, and no-one doubts that there is a monopoly on this business in the capital. However, once you raise the subject and talk to people well-versed in the cinema business about its problems, the reply immediately comes that people in Baku do not go to the cinema. They say that this is the root of all the problems - the expensive tickets, the lack of funds for the modernization of cinemas which operated successfully in Soviet times and people's preference for pirate DVDs. They name the absence of a local cinema industry as one of the problems. There are many excuses. However, despite the generally-accepted opinion about people's low interest in visiting cinemas, one of our readers contacted us recently to say that she had recently failed to get into the daytime premiere of an animated cartoon in the only "normal" cinema in the capital, as there were not enough tickets to go round. As a result, she had to go to the evening show for which the tickets were more expensive and her kids, who wanted to see the new cartoon, were so tired by then that they did not really enjoy it.

"But I was most outraged by the fact that there was only one ticket office in the cinema. There were so many people there - arguments and a crush. This is how I spent the weekend with my children. How long will people talk about going to the cinema in Baku, meaning just one modern cinema? If there is no alternative, those who have the exclusive right to show licensed movies in the capital will have free rein to drive up ticket prices. If we think about it, prices have actually doubled in recent years," she said.

No cinema industry - no film distribution

This means that people still go to the cinema. Whereas previously the big-screen format had become irrelevant, now, quoting the well-known Latin proverb that "the world is changing quickly and we are changing with it", we can say that consumers' tastes have undergone change and become more sophisticated, as in many other areas of modern life. There are people who prefer to watch a licensed film on the big screen, with stereo sound, rather than watching low-quality pirated discs at home. There are quite a few people like this. As we know, demand generates supply. This means not only that ticket prices should be cut, but also that other cinemas in the capital should be modernized. Who should be doing this? The state or business?

An expert in the business said, in an interview with R+, that in local conditions, businessmen should be engaged in developing chains of cinemas rather than a single cinema, which is simply unprofitable, because the cinema business in all developed countries has long progressed beyond state control. In order to implement a project to create and modernize cinemas, tens of millions of dollars will be needed. "If we talk about revenue as well as turnover, it is not profitable to create a chain of cinemas in just the capital, you also need to go to other regions of a country - to cities with a population of more than one million, and there are no such cities in Azerbaijan. Cinemas are making small profits, while the payback period for projects is increasing year by year. Moreover, there is no cinema market as the country does not have its own cinema industry. At present, the number of visits made even to the one modern cinema in the capital is miserable. For example, in order to modernize a good cinema with 1,000 seats - three or four halls, more than one million dollars are required. But the cinema will not develop in a situation where new films are shown on public channels and when all this is available on DVD. Nor is there film distribution in Azerbaijan. People just do not go to the cinema. This is first. Second, Azerbaijani cinema is not developing. In essence, it does not exist. If there is no cinema industry, film distribution services are not needed. If there is no film distribution, there are no cinemas. The logic is very simple," the specialist stressed.

Nuances

We can go into this in more detail. If we talk about the modernization of cinemas, we mean projectors, sound equipment, acoustics, screens, the acoustic adaptation of premises, seats and the building itself with its rooms. All this requires a lot of money. This is a serious investment project. As well as re-equipping existing halls, it is necessary to establish normal relations with film distribution companies in order to obtain good films on a daily basis. "If we talk about the work of just one modern cinema in Baku, the purchase of a licensed film costs between 5,000 and 10,000 dollars for two weeks. Now count how many people have to come to watch a film in a 150-seat hall, if the price of a ticket varies between two and three manats. And do not forget the wages of staff, public utilities, electricity, water, sewerage and so on. Once in six months, you have to replace the worn-out parts on film projectors; one projector bulb costs 750 euros, not to mention other expenses. In these circumstances, can we say that cinema tickets are too expensive?" our interviewee wondered.

However, although piracy also flourishes in Russia, a visit to the cinema in that country is quite popular. "The biggest problem for film shows in Azerbaijan is that the cinema shows films only in Russian and English, whereas there are many more Azerbaijani-speaking people in the country. The reason is that all films shown in Azerbaijan are currently obtained from Russia. Thus they show "untranslated" copies in English and translated ones in Russian. Dubbing into Azerbaijani will certainly push up prices, because it will increase expenses," he said.

The use of subtitles could be a way out of this situation, as is the case in many countries, i.e. in cinemas films are shown in English with subtitles in the local language. Subtitles in Azerbaijani would be cheaper, while the number of potential viewers would increase. However, many believe that the development of the cinema industry also needs state support. This support should help put an end to the showing of pirated films on TV, implement a privileged state programme for those who wish to privatize cinemas and secure the duty-free purchase of cinema equipment. Incidentally, this last measure has been quite successful in Turkey.

It should be noted that the issue of the development of the cinema industry in Azerbaijan was raised in 2006 when, by government decree, 11 cinemas were taken out of the jurisdiction of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Culture and Tourism. They were supposed to be put up for sale, i.e. privatized by private individuals. Only two cinemas - the Araz and Azerbaijan - were to retain their special status. Only the Nizami cinema remained under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Culture. Of the cinemas in Baku, apart from the aforesaid Azerbaijan and Araz, the summer hall of the Narimanov cinema, the Sevil, Inqilab, Izmir and Babak cinemas, and the summer halls of the Tabriz and Vatan cinemas were to be privatized. It is likely that the new owners have already turned these buildings into service stations, dry cleaners, bakeries, shops selling pirated discs, children's toys and furniture and poolrooms. At the time, Minister of Culture Abulfaz Qarayev explained this decision by the fact that "no-one should expect that cinemas will be restored and financed by the state today". This is understandable. Almost all Russian cinemas are privately-owned. It is another matter that they managed to retain the cinemas as cinemas. We can only recall here a song by the Baku singer/poet Igor Timakov "Nostalgia".

…Remember when outside Nizami

Crowds queued for a new film

And guys from Kubinka charged me

Triple the price for a back row seat

That was a really good time!