Azerbaijan Television Telefilm Studio (Azerbaijantelefilm)
Date of establishment: 1968
Head: Elchin Musaoglu
“Azerbaijantelefilm” Creative Union is one of the largest documentary film producers in the country. The Union is a legal entity within the structure of Azerbaijan Television CJSC.
1957: Film broadcast editorial office of the Television Department
1960: Film editorial office of the Baku television studio
1968: Screen Creative Union
1973: Azerbaijantelefilm Creative Union
1978: Chief editorial office preparing programs on tape
1992: Azerbaijantelefilm Creative Union
2025: Telefilm studio
Since 1958, documentary films have been shot on television. In 1960, film director Kamil Rustambeyov began shooting the feature film "Aygun" based on the script of the poem of the same name by Samad Vurgun. The film was first shown on Baku television in 1961. Unlike the various republics of the USSR, the first feature film on Azerbaijani television, “Aygun,” consisted of 9 parts. In 1961, Rauf Kazimovsky shot the 1-part feature film “The Blind Man’s Song” on Azerbaijan Television based on his own script. Singer and actor Mammadali Aliyev performed the blind Arab’s song from Huseyn Javid’s play “Sheikh Sanan” against the backdrop of the Old City. This film can be considered the first music video shot on our national television. After that, Rauf Kazimovsky directed the feature films “Baby,” “Wool Shawl,” “Mailbox,” “Bashir Safaroglu,” “The Smile of the Actress,” and director Kamil Rustambekov directed “The Chained Man,” etc. In 1965, director Rasim Ismayilov shot the first animated film on television called “Talking Lights.” Four years later, he shot the second animated film called “Reds, Blacks, and Others.” Thus, the foundation for regular production of animated films on Azerbaijani television was laid.
In 1970, a cinema complex was built on the instructions of Heydar Aliyev to strengthen the material and technical base of television. The existence of the cinema base created conditions for the filming of a large number of documentary television films.
The organization, which gives priority to the production of films in the scientific, popular, and ethnographic genres, has filmed 2,300 television films in the amount of 1,500 hours by 2019. The history, folklore, architecture, culture, and people of Azerbaijan were the main themes of the films.
Most of these television films, produced in various genres, were shot on film, and the rest were recorded on videotape. Currently, hundreds of documentary television films dedicated to the history, ethnography, culture, art, and figures of science and art are preserved in the television fund.
