Days of Azerbaijani cinema to be held in Baku
By Laman Ismayilova
Days of Azerbaijani cinema will be held in country's higher educational institutions.
The project is co-organized by the Ministry of Culture and the State Film Fund, Trend Life reported.
Days of Azerbaijani cinema will be held at Azerbaijan State Pedagogical University and Azerbaijan State University of Oil and Industry on December 3-6. National films will be also screened at Azerbaijan University of Languages on December 4-7.
The events will include screenings of documentaries made in recent years on the themes of patriotism, national and spiritual values, as well as meetings with famous artists.
Azerbaijani cinematography, rich with eminent events and playing important role in cultural-moral life of Azerbaijani people, has passed for over a century a specific way of development.
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.
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.
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.
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Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova
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