Georgian films

[Alexey I. Fuchs]

I know the following movies:

        "The Tree of Desire" (or, The Wishing Tree), "Drevo Zhelaniya"
        1977 by Tengiz Abuladze

        A highly emotional movie, tragic, and very demonstrative of the
Georgian culture.

        I can recommend this movie personally, but in general - look for
movies by Abuladze, he is a great director. Check imdb.com.
        Another great Georgian director is Otar Iosseliani. But his
movies, though very Georgian, deal more with human nature, than
ethnography :) At least, that is my impression.

        Two more Georgian classics from the soviet era:

        "Mimino," - by Georgi Danelia, about soviet Georgia, and the
people. A comedy, but a Georgian comedy (and it means a lot).

        "Ne goryuy," - a mediaeval Georgian legend, a comedy again. One of
the best.

        Check on IMDB for the movies of Danelia - he is superb. Most of
his films, though, refer to the lives of simple soviet people. "Afonya"
and "Osenny Marafon" (Autumn Marathon) have nothing to do with Georgian
culture, but they are great and they have the special Georgian
cinematographic feel.

        And there is a great comedy, quite old, about which I do not
remember anything except there was a team of Georgian road workers,
painting markers on the road, and there adventures.

        I'd be delighted to follow this thread.

                                                        A.Fuchs



On Fri, 12 Nov 1999, C. Fields wrote:

> This is not exactly a Slavic question, but I figure Slavicists would be
> the ones to know...
>
> I'm looking for recommendations of favorite Georgian films.  A list of
> titles and/or directors could help when approaching clerks at artsy video
> rental places or when doing a search on a library database. I'm looking
> for films that are both entertaining and illustrative of the culture.
> "Repentance" is the only one I've been able to turn up so far, and I know
> there are many more--lighthearted and serious.
>
> Reply to me off line.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Emily Fields
>