Dea Kulumbegashvili’s first feature-length film, “Beginning” (2020), drew cinema-lovers’ attention to Georgia. It became a real sensation and won many prestigious international awards. Feminist film has emerged as one of the leading trends in contemporary cinema but it must also be said that such works are often pathetic, artificial or exhausted. Conversely, “Beginning” encompasses more than just a film made...
Most people have an auditory memory - certain phrases, melodies and tunes are easily remembered, and hearing them after a long time evokes a feeling of nostalgia. What feeling would you get if you listened to some old Georgian radio now? With its program introductions and the voices of familiar presenters. This has become something very distant and nostalgic, since now most people turn on their favourite music in their cars via Bluetooth, but there is one place where you can hear these familiar and forgotten tunes - a taxi. Traveling by taxi is like traveling ......
Napoleon Bonaparte once said: “If the Earth were one big country, Istanbul would become its capital.” For Levan Akin, this ancient city is not presented as the center of the world but as one big Hades. For the Swedish director of Georgian origin, it is undeniable that Georgia and its social problems interest him very much. After all, the “warmest” welcome he received in Tbilisi during his film career ...
Every nation has its most famous work of art, which is read to children from a young age and quotes are learned by heart, which embody the spirit of these people. For Georgians, this is “The Knight in the Panther's Skin,” a poem that has survived for centuries and does not lose its popularity. It always plays an important role in the formation of cultural consciousness, carries not only artistic value, but also has a powerful force of deep moral and ethical impact on the reader. It is......
It is unimaginable to be an artist and not be troubled by the pain of your country, people, and human fate and to be engaged in creative activity in such a way. If you do not hurt and grieve, you cannot think, and therefore, you cannot judge. This is the reason why valuable works of art are sometimes created and sometimes they are not. The director, Levan Koghuashvili’s films are an expression of this anxiety, when it is difficult for you to touch on painful topics, but your conscience does not allow you to turn a blind eye and wrap them up beautifully. So poignant ......
Tinatin Emiridze’s documentary, “Fog Curtain” (2019), tells the story of the Khulo State Drama Theater. More precisely, this film is more of a description than a narrative and its main problem might lie just in this. Before the director’s idea reaches the audience, it has to go through foggy landscapes (which occupy a fairly large part), the abundance of characters from the very first minute and the confusion caused by getting to know them from afar, unexpected changes in the plot and many other factors, as a result of which it reaches in a quite foggy manner those on the other side of the screen and does not leave any impression. In the first part, the depiction of the snow-covered nature of Khulo...
In the history of modern cinema, Zaza Urushadze’s film “The Confession” (2017) is one of the most important works that highlights a person’s internal struggle, the burden of conscience and their relationship with society. The director tries to analyse the depths of a person’s psychological and spiritual state, fears and mistakes. The story begins quite positively. Together with his disciple, father Giorgi arrives in a small village for a church service. In order to gain the locals’ goodwill and partake them of spiritual life, he decides to organise film screenings...
People look down on each other. They do not speak out about the injustice around them and continue to live in their shells until cracks appear in their housing and they have to go out. Society gives excessive importance to officials. They do not understand that officials are also ordinary people who have found themselves at a relatively high hierarchical level. Mikheil Gabaidze's film, "Vasomotor Rhinitis" (2024) is neither a comedy nor a tragicomedy. It is a sharp social satire that criticizes the indifference and hierarchical structure of society. The film is not just a mirror of ...
We all have a list of special films. When you watch them, you get an aesthetic-philosophical shock and an impression that continues to live in you for years and settles in the depths of your own consciousness, becoming a part of you and never forgetting it. Time passes, you watch other, new films, but you also find the influence, citation or simple parallel of such films in other works, consequently, they become a kind of cultural measure and standard in your creative...
There might be a moment in every person's life when they realize that it is time for a change and something pushes them to deviate from the straight, mediocre, wrong path. It could be someone whose one word shakes you like a bolt of lightning or something that completely changes their consciousness and thinking. This happens especially when you realize that life is slowly pushing you towards the abyss, and you follow it like an exhausted, almost weightless log...