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about contemporary Azerbaijani cinema. Had I posed this question 30 years ago, however, it is likely I would have received quite different answers. Why? Because Azerbaijani cinematography was much richer, more active and alive then than it is now. But it is not just the movie industry that is in relatively poor shape. The state of Azerbaijani TV overall deteriorated as well in the course of the last two decades. It is difficult to blame the economy: Azerbaijan is growing fast and is getting richer so channeling investment into the movie industry, TV industry and generating better content should not be such a big problem. So why, then, is Azerbaijan experiencing a TV and movie black hole?
Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Svetlov. Based on the motifs of a popular operetta of the time, Svetlov shot in 1916 the musical comedy Arshin mal alan (The cloth peddler), originally a silent movie with the musical parts performed in a studio and female roles played by male actors. The film was re-made in 1945, obtaining a huge success, and then again in 1965 (see this same excerpt from the 1945 version and from the 1965 version). By the 1920s, Azerbaijan established its first Photo-Film Department. Some of the common themes of the Azerbaijan cinematography then were prejudice, woman's freedom, struggle against ignorance, oil production. In 1935, B.V.Barnet directed the countrys first sound film, On the Shores of a Blue Sea. In 1960, Azerbaijan saw its first wide screen color film on the folk legend Koroglu - a lone warrior-hero fighting the foreign invaders and saving his homeland. Despite a relative stall in film production, between then and now, Azerbaijan celebrated the 110th anniversary of cinema in 2008. A year earlier, late President of Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev signed a decree [AZ] whereby assigning the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to provide necessary financial and technological support to AzerbaijanFilm studio (the successor to Azerbaijan Photo-Film Department); reestablish movie theatres network and renovate existing cinemas. The decree also urged the Ministry of Education to focus on educational prospects promoting and teaching the art of film making in the country.
Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso channels, one public channel and seven privately owned television channels. Those who can afford it, watch cable TV at home. Whether it was done for supporting the local film and TV industry or to protect moral values, this didnt concern many of the housewives who followed foreign TV series, and especially Turkish ones. There was nobody to protest, however; rather than question the government and local broadcasting companies, most of the households turned to cable packages that offer access to most of the popular Turkish TV channels. Housewives were reunited with their favorite shows, government satisfied with the ban, life continued by its normal pace.
URL
www.balcanicaucaso.org/eng/Regions-and-countries/Azerbaijan/Azerbaijani-movie-and-tv-world-121941
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