The presentation of the four-volume collection “Azerbaijani Cinema. A Concise Encyclopedia”
The presentation of the four-volume collection “Azerbaijani Cinema. A Concise Encyclopedia” has taken place. The four-volume set titled “Azerbaijani Cinema. A Concise Encyclopedia (1898-2025),” prepared based on a project by the Center for Initiatives and Projects with the support of bp, has been presented. Authored by film researcher, Honored Art Worker, and Associate Professor Aydin Kazimzadeh, this fundamental publication systematically presents information on films registered at the Azerbaijan State Film Fund, covering all historical stages of Azerbaijani cinema from its inception to the present day.
The publication, which encompasses our 128-year cinematic history, includes feature films, television films, animated films, and “Mozalan” shorts in Volumes I and II, while Volumes III and IV are dedicated to documentary films. For the first time, our films produced up to 2025 have been systematized in a unified form within the book.
The publication pays special attention to the field of animation—an inseparable part of our national cinematic heritage—noting that a certain stagnation had been felt in Azerbaijani animated cinema recently, and attention to this field had declined. However, Rashid Aghamaliyev, Chairman of the Azerbaijan Animation Association and founder and director of the ANIMAFILM International Animation Festival, has done a great deal of work to revive this genre of cinema in our country. It is precisely due to his industriousness and activity that the Azerbaijan Animation Association was established in 2022, succeeding in uniting more than 50 professionals around it in a short period. As a result of various events and international projects conducted by this organization, which gathers animators on a single platform, Azerbaijani animation has been revitalized and has entered a new stage of development.
This project, brought to fruition through the hard work of a large editorial and technical team, was prepared based on the author’s personal archive, the archives of various film figures, and materials from the State Film Fund. The publication is intended for film researchers, students of culture and art, as well as a broad audience interested in the history of Azerbaijani cinema.
