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Azerbaijani documentary filmed in Madrid

29 September 2014 16:31 (UTC+04:00)
Azerbaijani documentary filmed in Madrid

By Amina Nazarli

An Azerbaijani documentary film named "Over the Sky of Azerbaijan" has been produced in Madrid.

Organized by the Azerbaijani Embassy in Spain, the film was devoted to the young pilots who had studied in Azerbaijan during the civil war in Spain within 1936-1939s.

The film tells the story of Spanish pilots who trained at Military Aviation School No 20 in Kirovabad (now Ganja) following an agreement between Spain and Stalin's government in Moscow.

The group of 15 Spanish men of action, full of courage and determination deserved the right to be part of the history.

In January 1939, after the end of the Spanish Civil War, 180 young Republican pilots, most of them from Catalonia and Valencia, returned to Kirovabad and set up a pilot group to protect the oil wells of Baku from the attacks of the Nazi army.

The thirty non-communist members of the group were told to leave the USSR. When the USSR joined World War II, they were sent to labour camps where they remained for 15 years. At least 25 of the Spanish pilots lost their lives in the battles against Hitler's forces.

A monument has been built in their honor in Ganja.

The idea to create the film came after studying the history of Azerbaijan-Spain relations by Businesswoman Gulnara Khanbabayeva, who lives in Valencia. The study was accompanied by a live interview with the only surviving pilot, who witnessed the war.

The film shot by Spanish director Sargario Perpinan was first screened in Valencia in June 2013. The event was attended by the spouses of the diplomatic corps heads and representatives operating in Spain.

The documentary was shot both in Azerbaijan and Spain.

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