Azernews.Az

By Laman Ismayilova

A documentary "The First Success of the Nobel brothers" will be screened in Germany.

The film was included in the competition program of the 5th Golden Tree International Documentary Festival, which takes place in Frankfurt.

Directed by Jalaladdin Gasimov, the film tells about Nobel brothers who gained most of their revenues when they were in Baku. They came to Baku to find walnut trees, but instead they saw Baku oil and established "The Nobel brothers" company.

The Nobel Brothers took an active roll in Azerbaijan's oil industry that started developing apace in the second half of the 19th century.

After detecting oil on Absheron peninsula, Robert Nobel invested his capital in the oil sector and set up drilling operations. He also bought a small kerosene factory and began refining oil.

The Nobel Brothers company officially began operating in 1879. Set up by Robert, Ludwig and Alfred Nobel, the company became the most authoritative and valuable oil company worldwide.

By the early 20th century, the Nobel Brothers Company had become the dominant oil company in Azerbaijan.

The company had capital equal to 30 million rubles and more than 13 plants (including 6 oil processing plants) from the period of 1914 to 1917. Their total oil production was 76 million pounds in 1916.

The Nobel Brothers were also strong humanitarians, donating funds to schools and ran a hospital.

Ludvig Nobel worked actively to improve working conditions in his factories. In 1885 he started a cooperative bank for the workers. Dining rooms, billiard rooms, libraries and conference rooms were also built for workers. Moreover, large park, created by brothers still exists in the "Black City".

Golden Tree International Documentary Festival aims to encourage greater global attention on documentary film and to promote quality films focusing on diverse civilizations and cultures from across the world.

The festival has become an important bridge for cultural content linking eastern and western documentary markets and is establishing itself as a valuable resource for distribution within China and development of content between China and the world.

The final night of the 5th Golden Tree International Documentary Festival is scheduled for August 25.

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Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

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