page_title: Cinema of Azerbaijan
section_title: Soviet period
hierarchical_section_title: Cinema of Azerbaijan / Soviet period
caption_attribution_description: English: Cadre from the first Azerbaijani Soviet film "Maiden Tower Legend"
context_page_description: The film industry in Azerbaijan dates back to 1898. In fact, Azerbaijan was among the first countries involved in cinematography. When the Lumière brothers of France premiered their first motion picture footage in Paris on December 28, 1895, little did they know how rapidly it would ignite a new age of photographic documentation. These brothers invented an apparatus, patented in February 1895, which they called the "Cinématographe". It is not surprising that this apparatus soon showed up in Baku – at the turn of the 19th century, this bay town on the Caspian was producing more than 50 percent of the world's supply of oil. Just like today, the oil industry attracted foreigners eager to invest and to work.
  A Frenchman by the name of Alexandre Michon was among the first entrepreneurs who came and settled in Baku. A photographer and cameraman by profession, he is believed to have lived in Baku for more than 25 years where he set up a photo studio. Mishon became active in forming a scientific photo circle in Baku and became its secretary.
context_section_description: After the Soviet power was established in 1920, Nariman Narimanov, Chairman of the Revolutionary Committee of Azerbaijan, signed a decree nationalizing Azerbaijan's cinema. The People's Education Commissariat, which functioned somewhat like a Ministry, created an art department which included a film section headed by Hanafi Teregulov and Muslim Magomayev, a notable composer and opera singer. In 1922 the government of Azerbaijan decided to create the first cinema factory which became the forerunner of today's film studio Azerbaijanfilm.
  In 1923 the Azerbaijan Photo Film Institution (APFI) was established by a special decree of the Council of People's Commissars. The Institution controlled all the movie houses and distribution bureaus. Thus, a new epoch in the history of Azerbaijani cinema began – a period when Soviet ideology, not individual entrepreneurship, dominated the film industry.
  APFI shot its first film The Maiden Tower Legend in 1924. This film was the first Azerbaijani Soviet and was based on the legend about the Maiden Tower.
  In the 1930s, Russian director Boris Barnet filmed By the Bluest of Seas in Azerbaijan. The film, which is set on one of the country's islands in the Caspian Sea, has received renown from modern film critics.
caption: First Azerbaijani Soviet film The Maiden Tower Legend (1924)
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