Interview by Ramin Naziyev, Baku. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza
Film director Ali Isa Jabbarov, the main producer of the “Buta-Film” studio, head of the Association of Young Film-makers and the secretary of the Azerbaijani Union of Cinematographers talks to VK about the current situation in Azerbaijani film production and cinema.
- How would you define the current level of Azerbaijani cinematography?
- In the 1990s Azerbaijani cinema was in crisis. There was no financial or technical base. Today financing is stable – every year the state allocates 6 million manats for film production. Maybe, in comparison to other states this amount seems ridiculous, but this is a stable sum that comes from the budget. Now we are discussing a subsidy of 50 million manats for a complete renovation of the state studio “Azerbaijanfilm”. This includes the renovation, new technology, expensive professional equipment, and the creation of specialized studios. Azerbaijani cinema is in a stage of self-identification. There are two possible ways of development. Either we need to develop commercial film-making that would bring people to the movie theatres, or we should rather aim at the western film festivals and art-house. These are two main tendencies for today. When one watches a new film, one can immediately feel whether it was made for the internal market or for the festivals. Movie theatres are also a problem. Azerbaijan does not have a chain of movie theatres. Although in Baku there is a tendency for the development of movie theatres – almost all the new shopping and entertainment malls have their movie theatres with at least six halls. People are gradually coming back. The last film of Quentin Tarantino “Django Unchained” and the last film of Steven Spielberg “Lincoln” were shown in Azerbaijan. The movie theatres are successfully advertising their films on social networks, and the middle class is returning to the movies. The situation in the provinces is very different. The Association of Young Film-makers of Azerbaijan and “Focus” magazine recently carried out a survey in Lankaran, a big region of Azerbaijan. It revealed that the residents of the city of Lankaran were going to the movie theatres 10 years ago and there are adult people aged 35-40 who have never been in a movie theatre. Nobody feels bad about buying a pirated copy. Piracy in the DVD shops and TV channels affects the volume of our production and the earnings of our authors. The local TV channels that show pirated copies do not need Azerbaijani production. They fill their time with illegal copies of American and European movies that bring them high ratings. Therefore, film-producers have no motivation to produce films for the local channels. Modern cinema halls with Dolbi stereo equipment were a good step towards popularizing movies in the country. There were some attempts to show Azerbaijani films. The film “Lot” by Nariman-Film, was shown, the biggest renovated theater, the Nizami, sometimes shows local movies but very few people come to watch them. However, there is some tendency of restoring the contact between the audience and Azerbaijani cinema. We are now at a crossroads – either we will have cinematography with stable financing but no movies as such, or we will be a good film market with both commercial films and authors’ cinema.
- How is the price of a ticket to the movies worked out?
- Now, having some experience, the administration of a movie theatre involves different campaigns. As a rule, the price depends on the time of the day. Movie theatres start producing bonus cards and when you have enough points, you can go to some movie for free. In general, taking into account the financial capacities of our audience, the ticket prices are high, but they are alright for a metropolis. Going to the movies should be the same cultural event as going to the theatre. One should not be afraid to spend 10 dollars to go to the movies.
- In Soviet times Azerbaijani cinematography produced many good films, and very few during the times of independence. What is the reason for this?
- Political life in Azerbaijani in the last 20 years has been very intense, we lived basically under military siege, 20% of our territory is occupied. All the last years our newspapers have been focused on political events. But the country is gradually returning to normal. A cultural event can make the front page. For example, the Eurovision song contest or the tours of world stars, international festivals. And films can also become an event. The biggest event in Azerbaijani cinema was the film “City” by Yelkhan Jafarov, based on the novel by Adil Abbas. It was a patriotic film about war, the problems of Karabakh, it produced more resonance than any film in the last 10 years. But we cannot talk about popularity – so that people repeate the words from the movies or know the music. We still need to wait for movies to become popular. There was one commercial film, whose artistic quality was low but it had high sales ratings – “Court” – with all the stars of our KVN (comedy sketch show – VK). The first part was directed by the experienced scriptwriter and director Ramiz Fataliyev, so the acting was good. But it has no artistic value, although it's a good commercial product. Unfortunately, later the team did not maintain the quality level. So I can only mention the patriotic film “City” and the comedy “Court” made 9 years ago. It is really very little. The problems of cinema include piracy, lack of technology and advertising and still financing. Even the budget of the theatres is higher than that of cinema. Last year theatres got 9 million manats and cinema only 6 million. I believe that the budget of the cinema should be around 10-12 million.
To be continued
