How will anti-Russian sanctions affect activities of Azerbaijani cinemas?

After the introduction of a package of sanctions due to Russia's military actions in Ukraine, film industry giants such as Disney, Warner Bros., and Sony have imposed sanctions on Russia.

As is known, Azerbaijani cinemas buy films from these companies in their offices in Moscow. Where will they acquire them, taking into account the anti-Russian sanctions?

Narmin Hasanova, marketing director of the Cinemaplus cinema chain, told Report that the cinema chain buys films directly from these studios: "We work directly with the studios of the world's largest film producers, such as Sony, Disney, Warner Bros., Paramount. The CIS countries purchased films through Russia, since the offices of these film companies are in Moscow. However, the events of the latest days suggest that these companies will change their location. In general, films of the world cinema distribution will be shown in Azerbaijan on the day they are released."

According to N. Hasanova, negotiations are currently underway: "The above-mentioned film giants are working on this issue. Our main goal is to show films in Azerbaijan on the day of their world premiere."

Rustam Fataliyev, PR manager of the Park Cinema chain of cinemas, noted that for such film companies as Disney, Warner Bros., Sony and others, Azerbaijan was among the CIS countries, such as Moldova, Kazakhstan, and Russia:

“They had a distribution company in Russia for the CIS nations. At present, the situation may change, taking into account anti-Russian sanctions. Perhaps, a new distributor country will appear. There are different assumptions, maybe it will be Turkey. One thing is clear, that our audience will not be deprived of big premieres. I think that these sanctions will not have a big impact on us. In all cases, we are trying to solve this problem so that our viewers are not left without a premiere,” he said.