Different branches of art have their expressive means. Painting uses visual forms, literature uses words, and cinema uses both (and, of course, many more). It is interesting to observe how the same message, topic, is transferred from one field of art to another or how a work of one field becomes an inspiration for a work of another (and sometimes third) field of art. Such is Niko Pirosmani's painting, "Kakhetian Train," which first became the basis for Archil Kikodze's story of the same name, and then this story became a film directed by Lali ...

WHERE IS THE TRAIN COMING FROM Read More

Cinema art, with its versatile means of expression, offers the director various opportunities to convey his message to the audience in one form or another. How the director will use this opportunity depends on his talent. An original vision, a distinctive style of narration, relevant topics and many other factors determine the success of the film. One of the most important roles is played by a film narrative, the story development and the film structure which maintains its...

SOCIAL STIGMA AS THREAT TO DISTINCTNESS Read More

When one loses a parent, he is orphaned, when – a spouse, he is widowed but when a child dies, it is so terrible that people have not even found a name for it. It is difficult to find an analogue of this tragedy and imagine yourself in the parent’s place. Tinatin Emiridze, with her short film "Black Sea" (2021), tries to convey to the audience the full depth and magnitude of this tragedy. This is a story about a family that tragically...

RETURN TO LIFE Read More

A prison is a place where a person’s word has no meaning. Everything is in the hands of only one person, the warden, and it is he who controls what will happen inside the walls. The weak rarely survive, the strong become watchers of the prison and are subject to the warden throughout their stay. Freedom ends at the prison door. The bars surround a person like a snake and suffocate him until he takes his last breath. Everything ...

TICKET TO EXIT JAIL Read More

The Georgian film program at the 24th Tbilisi International Festival could be said to be the weakest in the history of this festival, although there were "pearls" that stood out and provided the audience with amazing emotions. Such an exceptionally good film was Giorgi Varsimashvili and Jeanne Nouchi’s film "Hotel "Metalurg" (2023), which tells the story of the displaced people from Abkhazia staying in Hotel "Metalurg" (Tskaltubo, Georgia), for whom this building became ...

NATIVE "METALURG" Read More

When directors started looking for unique techniques and authorial style to express a multifaceted idea, was the time when the fable narrative was created in cinema. Without specifying the place and time, by camouflaging, so as to reflect the images of many people in one character, not to offend anyone and to criticize everyone, at the same time. A great example of this is Tinatin Kajrishvili's film, “Citizen Saint” (2023) – a philosophical fable about faith, fear, people and their weaknesses. It reflects everything earthly and fabulous. The ...

LOVELY AND SPECTACULAR Read More

Freedom is a state that is hard to reach. People try to be in this state throughout their lives. Sometimes they manage it, sometimes not. Often, the state structure forces individuals to exist in a difficult situation. During the period of Soviet Union, citizens were in an information vacuum and thought that everything coming from Europe was bad and unacceptable. The state turned a blind eye to people. They lived in a country where gospel and music of free country were banned. They prayed silently,...

ESCAPE THAT DOESN'T FEEL LIKE FREEDOM Read More

The topic of emigration is widely discussed in cinema. This problem is constantly relevant, not only feature films, but documentaries as well are made about it. Reflecting the fears of people who are ready to leave their homeland and go in search of a better life can be shown honestly in documentary films because the person himself tells his own story, the path he has taken, brings his inner emotions to the surface, consequently, it is possible to convey...

IN PURSUIT OF A DREAM Read More