'Objective Baku' documentary presented
By Nigar Orujova
Baku saw a presentation of the documentary 'Objective Baku. Hitler's war on Oil' at the Heydar Aliyev Center on May 4.
Shot with the support of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, the film is dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the Victory over Nazism. The documentary was produced by Arzu Aliyeva, Chief Producer and Louis Vaudeville, producer, and directed by Robert Mugnerot.
Azerbaijan's First Lady, President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Mehriban Aliyeva and Arzu Aliyeva attended the ceremony.
Prior to the screening, Arzu Aliyeva addressed the ceremony, highlighting Azerbaijan’s contribution to the Victory over Nazism.
"More than 70 percent of the total oil production and more than 80 percent of the total fuel production in the Soviet Union in 1941-1945 accounted for Azerbaijan," she stressed.
Louis Vaudeville, in turn, highlighted the shootings of the film and thanked the president of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation for her support.
The plot of the documentary reveals the role of the Azerbaijani people in defeating Nazism and the strategic importance of Azerbaijani oil during the war.
The Great Patriotic War in 1941-1945, appealed for 700,000 from Azerbaijan, 400,000 out of them never came back home.
Azerbaijan's input to the war efforts was not only restricted to human resources. The role of the Azerbaijani oil in the Victory shall not be overseen. For instance, 72 percent of the Soviet crude was produced in Baku. This implies that 7 out of 10 tanks or war planes were fueled by Baku's 'black gold'.
The documentary is the joint product of the Baku Media Center and the Clarke Costelle & Co. production company recognized for its documentaries.
Another documentary produced by Clarke Costelle & Co., Apocalypse: The Second World War, aired in 171 countries gathered a total audience exceeding 1 billion viewers.
'Objective Baku' took 14 months of substantial research in Azerbaijan, Germany, the US, the UK, France and Russia, with over 200 hours of video materials, photographs and other documents to become a reality.
Through the prism of oil, the film provides a totally new approach to the history of World War II. The documentary also features some unique video snapshots of the battles never shown to this day in a new format of restored color film.
Along with the Azerbaijani version, the Russian, English, French, German and Italian versions of the documentary are available.
The film will be broadcasted at the National Geographic channel in 26 countries on May 8, 9 and 10.
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Nigar Orujova is AzerNews’s staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @o_nigar
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