Cinema in Azerbaijan emerged only three years after world cinema — on August 2, 1898.
To date, more than 3,000 films have been produced in Azerbaijan.
At the end of the 19th century, thanks to “black gold,” Baku began to be recognized as the cultural center of the South Caucasus. During this period, the French photographer Aleksandr Mikhaylovich Mishon operated a publishing house and a photo studio in Baku. He photographed Baku landscapes, oil fields, and a series of images related to fires that erupted at the oil wells. He is also the author of the documentary scenes “Fire at the Bibiheybat Oil Fountain,” “Oil Fountain in Balakhani,” “Public Stroll in the City Park,” and “Caucasian Dance.”
Research shows that Mishon, who lived in Baku for more than 20 years, did not intend to lay the foundations of Azerbaijani cinema. He was engaged in photography, took pictures, presented them in Baku, and then brought them to France. Two of those film subjects (“Fire at the Bibiheybat Oil Fountain” and “Oil Fountain in Balakhani”) were returned to Azerbaijan from the French film archive in 2001 through the initiative of the Azerbaijan State Film Fund.
In 1915, the well-known oil industrialists, the Pirone brothers, established the “Filma” Joint-Stock Company in Baku. Located at No. 3 Birzhe Street in the city center (now Üzeyir Hacıbəyli Street), the company began producing several feature films in 1915–1916 and, with the support of oil magnates, started shooting the first Azerbaijani feature film based on Ibrahim Musabeyov’s novel In the Realm of Oil and Millions. To direct the film, director Boris Svetlov and cinematographer Grigori Lemberg were invited from Petrograd.
The intertitles of In the Realm of Oil and Millions, the first silent film in Azerbaijan, were written in two languages — Azerbaijani and Russian. The film portrays the life of oil-rich Baku at the beginning of the 20th century, depicting the lifestyle of Muslim oil millionaires and the harsh living and working conditions of laborers in the oil fields.
All events in the film unfold against the fate of the main character, Jalil. Poor and orphaned, Jalil unexpectedly becomes a wealthy oil owner. His friendship with the corrupt and cruel oil magnate Lutfali leads to his bankruptcy and destruction. A poor man who rises to the upper strata of bourgeois society, yet remains morally unprepared for it, ultimately faces tragedy.
The natural scenery was filmed in Baku and its outskirts — Balakhani, Binagadi, Zigh, and along the coastline — while the pavilion scenes were shot in Tbilisi. A real fire that occurred at the Balakhani oil fields at that time was also included in the film, becoming one of the most intriguing episodes for viewers.
The first part of this two-episode feature film premiered on May 14, 1916, and the second part on May 27, 1916.
Huseyn Arablinski, a prominent Azerbaijani theater and film figure who played the role of Lutfali bey, is considered the first Azerbaijani film actor. This was the first and last film in which Arablinski appeared.
According to some claims, during the events of 1918, when the Taghiyev Theater caught fire once again, the film In the Realm of Oil and Millions was also destroyed. However, film scholar Aydın Kazımzadə rejected this assumption, stating: “Why would the film have been stored in a theater when the ‘Filma’ company had its own office? It is possible that the film was kept in the Russian film archive. It may have been discarded later due to becoming unusable. It is not there now.”
A second adaptation of the story based on the novella In the Realm of Oil and Millions was released in 1980 under the title The Golden Abyss. The melodrama was directed by Fikret Aliyev. Aliabbas Qadirov played Jalil, and Hamlet Khanizade portrayed Lutfali bey.
In 1983, director Fikret Aliyev received an award at the 14th All-Union Film Festival in Leningrad for this film.
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