Alexander Mishon (russian: Александр Михайлович Мишон; 5 July 1858, in
Kharkiv
Kharkiv ( uk, wikt:Харків, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine.Samara) was a Russian Empire photographer and cinematographer. Born to a French family in Kharkiv, he started his career as a photographer and owned a photo studio in his hometown. He later settled in Baku (nowadays capital of
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...
) and lived there for 25 years. Here, in 1898, he shot his first films using a Lumière cinematograph. Michon is widely regarded as the pioneer of Azerbaijani cinema.