Jamil Guliev , the director of State Film Fund of Azerbaijan, the secretary of the Azerbaijani Union of Cinema Workers, Honoured Art Worker of the Republic, member of the International Academy of Television and Radio, has spoken to VK about the Fund’s activities.
What is the main activity of the State Film Fund?
The State Film Fund of Azerbaijan was founded in 1995 on the initiative of the Azerbaijani leader, Heydar Aliev. The Fund’s functions are regulated by the statutes of the Republican Ministry of Culture and Tourism and international agreements. The State Film Fund of Azerbaijan is a member of the International Archive Federation that has its headquarters in Brussels. We work in various areas. First of all, we preserve and restore all kinds of films. In addition to this, we are looking for all materials connected with cinema and preserve them also. Besides that we do our best to popularize cinema and publish relevant books, albums and brochures. We co-operate with analogous archives in Russia, Georgia, Ukraine, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Lithuania, Poland, Bulgaria and Sweden.
In Soviet times all films were stored in Moscow, how did these films come to Azerbaijan?
In those times, all films that were produced in the Soviet republics were then sent to the State Committee for Cinematography of the USSR. Now they are preserved by the Federal Agency of Culture and Cinematography of the Russian Federation. We are trying to implement new technologies so that we may some day be able to preserve these films in Azerbaijan. Certainly, it requires corresponding agreements between the governments of our two countries. I think this will take three years.
How many Azerbaijani films are stored in Russia?
There are about 40 thousand different items and 370 movies. We have copies of 330 of them, these are almost all sound films that were shot in Azerbaijan, but we don’t have about 15 silent movies of the 20s-30s. We are also missing 4 sound films.
Were there any films that were prohibited in Soviet times and aren’t known nowadays to the Azerbaijani audience?
No, I don’t think so. There were some problems with such films as “In one Southern Town” and “The Interrogation”, but eventually they were allowed due to the intervention of Heydar Aliev. Now these films are known by the audience.
Did you manage to find any unique materials?
In the 90s our specialist managed to find the first film about Baku, shot in 1898 by Alexander Michon. We did also find a lot of other rare films and relevant materials. Now our search is continuing.
And when did the history of Azerbaijani cinema begin?
In 1898 the famous photographer Alexander Michon produced the first short film about Baku, which was shown to an audience on August 2nd. We mark this date as the birth of Azerbaijani cinema. According to the order of President Heydar Aliev this date is officially celebrated as the Day of Cinema.
Aren’t you going to make a new film yourself?
I’m a director and making films is expected to be my major occupation. However, at the moment I am very much engaged in organizational activities.
Jamil Guliev
1979 entered the Directing Faculty of the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography.
1984 – 1994 was working for “Azerbaijan-film” studio.
1987 became a professor of the Cinema and Television Department of the Azerbaijani State University of Culture and Art.
1982 directed film “March”, which won a major prize at the International Festival in Czechoslovakia.
1987 directed film “A Very Boring Story”.
1991 directed film “Last Love”.
Since 2007 is the Director of the State Film Fund of Azerbaijan.
