Discoveries from Georgia World Cinema

A traversal through a wireframe rendering of a construction structure.

Archival footage of a wedding in Soviet Georgia

A person rides a bicycle while simultaneously projecting visuals of a distant place

The Sun is a terrible giant (or carnivorous, bloodthirsty beast) sleeping with his body stretched out in a circle, in the center of which there is a fire and even stones and mountains burn in it. "He is illuminated by a firebrand, his mouth is open, his front tooth is missing, and the fire is still burning in the heart of a powerful circle, not weakening for a moment." And the one who brings the sun lives in the grave, since envious people called to the Solstice from the mountains a living, thinking, talking wheel without fire, which cut off his place of weakness, his legs, and he was laid alive in the grave as a stump that never dies.

This short film was inspired by the composition of the same name from the musical cycle of the Georgian experimental improviser-percussionist Zura Makharadze dedicated to Dionysus. This visual work in abstract form shows classical transformations experienced during the Dionysian mystery, passed through the personal connotation of the eternal cycle of death through destruction and rebirth; individual and global mental processes that go through the path of either destruction or creation, and the line between spiritual process and deep madness is completely blurred here.

based on real events and depicts the dire conditions in prisons during Mikheil Saakashvili's time in power.

Laura, a single mother from Baghdati, transformed her home into a hotel and named it after her daughter, Viktoria. Faced with challenging social and economic conditions, Laura works day and night to provide for her family. She cleans houses with other women and assists an individual with disabilities. Caring and cheerful, Laura represents the countless working women in Georgia, whose labor is often invisible but is vital to their communities.

In this experimental short, humans attempt to describe themselves to unseen extraterrestrial visitors. Through a blend of vulnerability, curiosity, and humor, the film explores what it means to inhabit a human body-and how strange that might seem from the outside.

Loud thoughts of nine women on the existential themes, about the essence of being human, and about the feelings. Each of them performs the act of meeting with herself. Person number one meets person number two, her alter ego. There rises a question: who am I? Where did I come from and where am I going to? The world comes into contact with them through music and lyrics. A path of self-awareness begins, which they also pass through catharsis on the background of various emotions, and which is saturated only with love.

The King-Seer of the Non-Existent and His God's Fool Son is a performative film unfolding between theatre, ritual, and dream — a vision of power, sacrifice, and fate. From the queen’s betrayal with an idol-deity is born a fool-son — a child of alien will, a mockery of his father. The King, consumed by jealousy and dread, devours his queen and weds the very one who should have been his heir. Yet their union is doomed: fate is relentless, and the son kills the father not for the throne, but as the fulfillment of an ancient decree. Thus the kingdom dissolves, vanishing into the void, where power and sacrifice are eternal.

A Georgian sci-fi short movie about importance of time

when a chance encounter of an old friend leads to a reunion party, Davit finds himself making choices that confront his reality with his dreams.

A unique resort has been handed over to an investor. The 12-meter building with 350 apartments is set to host 300,000 guests annually. The state granted 4.3 hectares to "Orbi" for just 1 GEL. Georgia’s troubled urban development history has already had dire consequences. Before construction begins, Anka Gujabidze travels to Bakhmaro to capture its untouched nature and daily life on film—before it’s lost to inevitable change.

A short cinematic travel film of Georgia

A short film directed by Joseph Stalin's great-grandson Besarion Jugashvili. It won the top prize at the 1998 Oberhausen International Short Film Festival.

The film portrays the lives of Soviet women of various ages, social statuses, and educational backgrounds. It tells the story of their dreams and their reality.

Traditionalism, cultural identity, descendants

A short cinematic travel film of Georgia

A short film directed by Joseph Stalin's great-grandson Besarion Jugashvili. It won the top prize at the 1998 Oberhausen International Short Film Festival.

In anticipation of the bus, young friends got worn out, and one of them travels to an imaginary world with the help of music.

The film portrays the lives of Soviet women of various ages, social statuses, and educational backgrounds. It tells the story of their dreams and their reality.

In a small sewing atelier in Baku, Azerbaijan, the country’s most important symbol, the flag, is being crafted against the backdrop of the second Karabakh war in 2020. As customers enter, political agendas and propagandistic narratives infiltrate the workshop, blending with the stories of the seamstresses who are bringing the national emblem to life.

A short documentary capturing the protests in Tbilisi, Georgia, in May 2024. As the ruling Georgian Dream Party passed an anti-LGBT law, demonstrators took to the streets, marching, singing, and dancing in defiance. The film follows their confrontation with police as they also rally against the Russian-backed "foreign agent law," a measure seen as a threat to civil liberties. Through a blend of resistance and traditional Sakartvelo culture, the documentary portrays a nation fighting for its freedom.

War is possible in a society to which it seems acceptable or natural. War monuments — statues, memorials and architectural ensembles, even churches — erected by the state to commemorate military figures and events play a huge role in desensitizing to war or open militarization. In Russia today, there are more than 4,500 monuments protected as cultural heritage; about 2,500 of them are dedicated to World War II; dozens, if not hundreds, of new monuments to the military people and wars have appeared in the last ten years.

The young courier Luka has money problems. He gets a call from the bank every day, but he doesn't want to think about debt. Making the delivery, he gets into the apartment of the customer, who falls asleep in front of his eyes. The apartment is now at Luka's disposal and he can do whatever he wants...

A film about the life of a teacher

karoche lurji chitia ra

A refugee from Abkhazia, a separatist region of the Republic of Georgia which has declared independence, enlists in the Georgian army, passes though the training and becomes a professional soldier whose first vacation is interrupted by the war against Russia in Southern Osetia in 2008.

The short film is based on Anton Chekhov's "Death of a Civil Servant" story. The film's main character, a man, sneezes in a concert hall and puts a high-ranking official in an embarrassing situation.

This film was made from found footage, edited by TABU92. The film tells the story of two boys who attempt to buy drugs, but things go wrong, and their story ends tragically.

"The leader is always right" is the rule number one in the Patriotic Camps in Georgia, established in 2005. The camps have been attended by hundreds of thousands of teenagers and has been personally supported by Georgia's former president Mikheil Saakashvili. The programme here is clear: to cultivate a "love of the nation" among the youth. Uniforms with the Georgian state symbol, flags on the cabins, and ideological slogans - all remind each boy and girl of the troubled past of their country and motivate for vengeance. A stark future is outlined when the children leave the camp with a clear idea of what "patriotism" means.

A vigilante called Ninja Owl fights evil.

A woman is getting ready for a date but suddenly finds herself transported into a psychedelic world depicting the hardships of being a woman. Here, she confronts symbols of social pressure to embrace her femininity.

Who is Elene Dariani? Is she a mystification by poet Paolo, or a woman who found herself in his shadow? The film is based on a real poetic love story.

A short film

Finding themselves emigrants, Milena and Nikita stay in Tbilisi. The first days they stay with an old friend. Milena feels lost and lonely in a new place, she needs support, but the only one close person takes refuge from the reality that caught up with them in his work on the film and long conversations with an old friend. Milena is worried that now the distance between them will only grow.

A young journalist is looking for a sensation. She is invited anonymously to the ruins of the "Hotel California" (former hotel "Intourist" in Tbilisi) to shoot a sensational material.

The House of Joy is a documentary about the creation of the film musical Keto and Kote, which was called the Georgian movie of the twentieth century. It reveals how the film was made, despite the strict censorship of the Stalin's regime.

Following the loss of her phone, a young woman discovers frightening photographs made by an unidentified photographer known as the Gag Lady. As she digs deeper, she uncovers a diabolical conspiracy with terrifying ramifications.

Through the creative use of archival footage, documentary filmmaker Maka Gogaladze tells a story of her family – from her birth till the present day, intertwined with the turbulent history of Georgia over the last 30 years.

21-year-old Marisha works the night shift at a hotel full of Russian tourists to earn money for her studies. When she arrives in Tbilisi after two years of online classes, Marisha struggles to find a place to live, due to the influx of Russians escaping mobilization.

Local betting casino and its unique society.

Personal maps of Tbilisi, created by its recent inhabitants – emigrants from Russia. The urban landscape transforms from being unfamiliar and occasionally intimidating to becoming intimate and recognizable. A shared environment for living, working, and creating is slowly taking shape.

A fly struggles to find an open window.

An animation that is experimental and joyous, making whimsical use of art works.

A ten-year-old boy's world is turned upside-down when his father is forced to shelter a runaway criminal in the family cafe that doubles as their home.