In Azerbaijani televisions and cinemas, feature films and series from many countries around the world are shown. But do foreigners also watch Azerbaijani films? Are Azerbaijan's feature films shown on foreign countries' TVs and in their cinemas? Has Azerbaijani cinema integrated into world cinema?
Producer Emil Najafov, answering questions for Medianews.az, first recalled that Azerbaijani cinema is over 100 years old: “When cinema emerged with us, many countries had not yet seen cinema. Currently, we show films produced abroad abundantly in our cinemas and on our televisions. Unfortunately, films made here nowadays cannot in any way compete with those films. There are many reasons for this. When we were part of the USSR, our cinema had a certain circulation. Films were produced by the state, and those films were automatically shown in the cinemas (which were also state-owned). The income from there was used again for film production and distributed among the countries. The films produced in Azerbaijan were shown in all republics of the USSR, even in the most remote villages.”
After the collapse of the USSR, many cinemas were privatized or converted into other facilities. Recently, the allocation of funds to the cinema industry has led to an increase in production. Also, competitions are held. New producers have also started to take their place in the market. Private companies producing films from the beginning are also involved in this process. But unfortunately, we still have not reached the level of mass screening of our films and series abroad.”
According to Emil Najafov, one of the main problems is finance: “Cinema is a very expensive field. In Hollywood, the budget of a film amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars. However, only 7-8 million manats are allocated for local films in total per year here. Therefore, we cannot compete. But this does not mean that no Azerbaijani film is shown abroad. Our films participate in international festivals. A festival is a great film celebration. Thousands of people buy tickets and watch those films. Among them, they watch Azerbaijani films as well. Besides, paid or free online platforms have appeared recently. They watch our films posted on YouTube. The YouTube channel of the “Azerbaijanfilm” studio has quite a few followers.
I would not say that these are the only ways for foreign audiences, but for now the main outlets abroad are festivals and online platforms.
Personally, the film I produced, directed by Elvin Adigozelov, “My Magical World” was shown this year in Germany, the Netherlands, Ukraine, and Brazil. According to the plan, it will also be shown in China and Turkey early next year. Then it will probably be shown in cinemas with ticket sales for audiences in Azerbaijan.
“My Magical World” was shown within the festival framework in the countries I mentioned. During festivals, those films are also presented on special platforms. Individuals accredited for the festival can enter the platforms with a code and watch the films. Hilal Baydarov’s film “Among Scattered Deaths” was shown at the film festival in Tokyo, the capital of Japan. Before that, there was a non-competitive screening of the film at the Venice Film Festival. Many such examples can be given. However, as is known, this does not generate income.”
Emil Najafov emphasized that shooting new-format series in Azerbaijan has just begun recently: “Previously, long and drawn-out series were shot, almost like ‘Santa Barbara’ with 3-5 thousand episodes. Now television channels have switched to a new format. Series of 8-12 episodes are being produced. We have also started. Especially, recently there has been good interest in the series produced by “Public TV” together with Emil Guliyev and “FM Production.” As far as I know, work is being done on selling it abroad as well. Because recently a content marketing event was held in Dubai. “Public TV” participated there with its series. In other words, they were looking for buyers. As far as I know, from our feature films, a film produced by Orkhan Mardan's producer has been shown in cinemas in Turkey and Kazakhstan. Also, one of Kenan MM's series has been broadcast on channels in Central Asia - I do not remember exactly, either Kazakhstan or Uzbekistan. But these are somewhat isolated cases. In the future, it will probably be possible to carry out the process purposefully and in a planned manner.”
Emil Najafov believes that the best and easiest way to promote Azerbaijani films more widely in the world market is co-productions: “Azerbaijan has a population of ten million. Suppose Azerbaijan and Turkey co-produce a film. This will mean that the film addresses an audience of eighty million. If a third country also joins this process, the potential for reaching abroad will strengthen even more. As I mentioned earlier, our films cannot compete with films that have budgets of 100-200 million dollars. That is clear. Therefore, co-productions – if two, three, four countries produce films together with us – will mean at least showing those films in the cinemas of those countries. Suppose we co-produce a film with France. France has a very large cinema market. The whole world rushes there for the Cannes festival. France hosts more than 50 festivals. That means every time they will promote the film we co-produce. As a result, we will gain a wide audience.
For series, there are content marketing markets held every year in different parts of the world. It is necessary to participate in those markets. Just as a cinema market called “Cinema Breeze” was recently held here and is still ongoing. It is necessary to join such events both in our country and abroad. How would people living abroad know that series are shot in Azerbaijan and that they should buy them? It needs to be shown and promoted. It’s true, competition in the world market is very great. In this market, the USA, Turkey, South Korea, and South American countries sell series. I do not say we will immediately be in the top five or ten, but at least we can be on the overall list. Actually, we have the potential for this. Series shot in Azerbaijan can be sold abroad.
To achieve success, work must be organized comprehensively. First, production must be done. We must produce many films. Not 4-5 per year, but 50-100 films should be shot. Then it will be possible to reach the world by the ways we mentioned.”
Naile Gasimova,
Medianews.az
