The time when the release of a new Georgian film was a special event is long gone. Starting from Tbilisi, where there used to be more than twenty cinemas ending with the highland villages, where there was a mobile cinema set, which was carried by car (and in heavy snow – by cart) to the waiting audience. Today, the premiere of a new film will be shown successfully in any of the few capital's cinema halls, it will go around foreign film festival screens...
There are topics that filmmakers have been applying since their origins, which many might even call banal. Many films have been made about them. These are – lack of relationship, constant quest for one's own "I," misunderstandings, scandals. This is what society faces every day, and sometimes its members don't even notice what people stop valuing and when they lose ...
Love is not an eternal feeling. It fades with time and gets lost in the swamp of family problems. Sometimes people try to save the relationship, but sometimes all the efforts end in failure. And still, what is love or what is it like? Perhaps, the character of Eldar Shengelaya's film "The Eccentrics," Khristofore Mgaloblishvili would say in its defense that love is vertical and rotating, but sometimes it is not like that at all. It is eternal longing or one big disappointment. Sometimes it looks like ...
Big ambitions, large-scale projects, rural people, government missteps and endless waiting. Nino Orjonikidze and Vano Arsenishvili's full-length documentary, “A Tunnel” (2019), demonstrates clear evidence that there is no light at the end of the tunnel. The film reflects the never-ending cycle of construction of the Moliti railway station in Kharagauli district. This large-scale and pompous project of the government and Georgian Railways changes ...
"The Criminal Man" is the name of Dimitri Mamulia's film, which was shot in 2019. The director already sets the mood and anticipation with this title. The main character is identified and vilified by the author. In the fight between good and evil, the side is certain. It is clear for the audience from the beginning who they will be dealing with. They do not have to wait long to meet evil. The film begins with a murder episode, witnessed by the main character Giorgi ...
Screenings have always attracted viewers’ attention and are still very popular among movie audiences. This is logical – people are interested how directors will be able to portray their favorite novels, stories, characters' adventures on the screen. Based on such high expectations among the audience, of course, even greater responsibility falls on the director and his film crew, since there is more criticism of the film from the public and it is to be expected. The risk is high, and the chance that the director will fail to live up to the audience’s expectations ...
“Republics are created by the virtue, public spirit and intelligence of citizens,“ – these words belong to the 19th century politician, Joseph Story, who defined the entire idea of the republic, which is also applicable to the 21st century commune created on the Batumi landfill. "Respublika" (2021) is a documentary film by Khvicha and Tinatin Emiridze, which shows Dato’s life, of a person who illegally settled in Batumi landfill. He is not alone. Around him, in fact, ...
Creating films about war started from the very origins of cinema. Different generations of filmmakers have brought to the screen the devastating consequences of senseless bloodshed to remind us that there are no winners in war. The topic of war is already shown from all sides, both inside and outside, but all wars end sooner or later and the question inevitably arises, what happens next? Sure, a peaceful life but what would it look like? ...
I will start with not an original question - according to what do we evaluate the film in general, what do we pay the most attention to: "what" or "how?” If to "what" - then "Wet Sand" (2021) by Elene Naveriani is a wonderful film, with an acute problem, which today has become a leading trend not only in the world, but also in Georgian cinema, despite the fact that society still closes its eyes to it and does not enjoy talking about it much. The gravity of difference...