(Read the full article at REPORT.AZ)

August 2 is the day of the establishment of Azerbaijani cinema, REPORT.AZ notes. 

In Baku on August 2, 1898. The first short film, silent film ( “Caught Up”) was demonstrated, said report.az

The first films were chronicles by photographer and prose writer Alexander Mishon (“Oil Fountain Fire in Bibiheybat”, “Oil Fountain in Balakhani”, “People’s Walk in the City Park”, “Caucasian Dance”, “Farewell Ceremony of the Emir of Bukhara, etc.) and a feature film. (“Ilishdin”).

Joint-stock companies (trading houses) opened by the Pirone brothers in the Caucasus in 1915 established rental offices in Baku, Tbilisi and Yerevan. In 1915, the society started shooting the first Azerbaijani feature film of the same name based on Ibrahim bey Musabayov’s novel “In the realm of oil and millions” with the money of oil industrialists. Director Boris Svetlov was invited from St. Petersburg to shoot the film. Scenes of nature were shot in Baku and surrounding villages, and scenes related to the pavilion were shot in Tbilisi. Huseyn Arablinsky played the role of Lutfali Bey in the film.