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Azerbaijan to celebrate 120th anniversary of national cinema

1 February 2018 15:26 (UTC+04:00)
Azerbaijan to celebrate 120th anniversary of national cinema

By Laman Ismayilova

Azerbaijani cinematography, rich with eminent events and played important role in cultural-moral life of Azerbaijani people, has passed for over a century the specific way of development.

In fact, Azerbaijan was among the first countries involved in cinematography. When the Lumière brothers of France premiered their first motion picture footage in 1895, little did they know how rapidly it would ignite a new age of photographic documentation. The brothers invented an apparatus ‘Cinématographe’, patented in February 1895. This apparatus soon showed up in Baku at the turn of the 19th century, when the developing oil industry attracted foreigners eager to invest and to work.

The first short, silent film of Azerbaijani cinematography “You are caught” was shown in Baku on August 2, 1898.

So, the audience witnessed the birth of Azerbaijani cinematography. To honor this historical day, August 2 was declared as professional holiday of cinema workers – Day of Azerbaijani Cinema.

The first movies also included newsreel documentaries “Fire of the Bibi Heybat Oil Gusher”, “Oil Gusher in Balakhany”, “Festival In City Park”, “Caucasian Dance”, etc.

The national film industry significantly developed after the Belgian Pirone brothers came to Baku and founded a joint-stock company, Filma, in 1915. The brothers established film distribution offices in Baku, Yerevan and Tbilisi. They also invited Russian director and film producer Boris Svetlov, who directed and produced several films, some of which later became famous.

Azerbaijan’s first feature film “The Reign of Oil and Millions” was produced in 1915. The film is based on M. Musabayov’s novel of the same name.

A year later Svetlov directed the first musical comedy “Arshin mal alan” by Uzeir Hajibayli. It was a silent movie and the musical parts were performed by indoor musicians and female roles were played by men.

The struggle against ignorance and illiteracy, the revolution, and rights of women were the main subjects of national films in the 1920s.

In 1922 the government of Azerbaijan decided to create the first cinema factory which became the forerunner of today's film studio Azerbaijanfilm.

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

Azerbaijani cinema enjoys huge recognition at international film festivals, which frequently award the national films.

This year, Azerbaijan celebrates the 120th anniversary of national cinematography.

In conjunction with the anniversary President Ilham Aliyev has signed an order on marking the 120th anniversary of Azerbaijani cinema.

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Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz

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