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“The institution of the Cinema Company actually marks the start of a brand new period for Azerbaijani cinema”
– We chatted to the acclaimed, award-winning filmmaker, who additionally works on the nation’s Ministry for Tradition, in regards to the founding of the Cinema Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan in late April
On the finish of April, the Cinema Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan was established. This new organisation, which could have its official launch quickly, goals to enhance Azerbaijan’s place and make it extra accessible to the worldwide movie trade. We had an opportunity to speak with Rufat Hasanov, an acclaimed, award-winning filmmaker, and head of the Audiovisual and Interactive Media Division on the Ministry for Tradition of the Republic of Azerbaijan, who supplied us some insights into the brand new endeavour.
Cineuropa: What are the primary goals of the newly established Cinema Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and what variations will there be in comparison with how issues had been beforehand within the nation?
Rufat Hasanov: Lately, the Azerbaijani cinema panorama has witnessed the fast emergence of younger expertise, delivering movies which have been chosen or awarded at main movie festivals, similar to Cannes, Venice, Rotterdam, Locarno, Busan and Sarajevo. However, the state film-funding coverage didn’t fairly permit us to faucet into this potential, with the Ministry for Tradition having been the one supply of financing for cinema in Azerbaijan. There was an obvious want for the implementation of recent operational fashions and options, which might encourage the expression of nationwide tradition via the audiovisual medium in addition to stimulate participation in worldwide, collaborative initiatives. Thus, the presidential decree establishing ARKA (the Cinema Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan) on 20 April 2022 actually marks the start of a brand new period for Azerbaijani cinema.
How comparable is the brand new establishment to the format of a movie centre?
Like every given movie centre, ARKA will implement the state coverage on cinema, together with monetary help for movie manufacturing, in addition to the distribution and promotion of Azerbaijani movies each domestically and worldwide.
How will the Cinema Company help native productions, and what are the primary steps it’s taking in this route?
ARKA will present a variety of strategic funding mechanisms to help trade professionals through improvement, manufacturing, post-production and distribution funding programmes, in addition to skill-development initiatives and worldwide co-production alternatives within the audiovisual sector together with, however not restricted to, dwell motion (together with debut movies), animation, documentary and TV sequence. Subsidies will likely be granted for initiatives chosen on a aggressive foundation (through open calls and pitching periods) by a Artistic Professional Committee, with a give attention to creativity, ambition, inclusion, transparency and sustainability.
On condition that the worldwide viewers all the time takes an curiosity in new collaborations, does Azerbaijan already provide any initiatives associated to worldwide productions?
Some of the profitable initiatives inside the basic framework of the brand new reforms launched by the Ministry for Tradition was the launch of “Filming Azerbaijan” – the Azerbaijani Movie Fee in January 2021. Inside a brief time period, we managed to make a very good effort to place ourselves as a novel manufacturing location attracting a variety of initiatives from Netflix and Disney+ to regional and worldwide productions.
Why is Azerbaijan a lovely movieing vacation spot, and what’s your plan concerning positioning the nation inside the broader movie trade?
With its logistical comfort (ie, six worldwide airports), local weather circumstances (incorporating 9 out of 11 local weather zones), mixture of beautiful historical and hyper-modern structure, dramatic mountain surroundings and the Caspian Sea shoreline, Azerbaijan provides a variety of cinematic backdrops and all inside a comparatively small distance from one another. We’re consulting with a number of governmental establishments to introduce a rebate system within the foreseeable future. We additionally hope that the institution of ARKA will pace up the method of our long-awaited Eurimages membership, which is able to undoubtedly create new alternatives for worldwide co-productions and integration right into a broader audiovisual context.
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