Discoveries from Georgia World Cinema

The film tells the story of four friends during one of the difficult periods of Georgia in the 90s, and the choices faced by the youth at that time.

Eka is a successful TV presenter in Tbilisi whose life is shaken when her aunt - an economic migrant whom she never has time for commits suicide. Nika is a programmer, working obsessively on AI from the sanctuary of his apartment. On the city streets, a worker falls to his death on a poorly-regulated construction site. Briefly, these worlds touch, only to pull apart again under the strain of self-imposed loneliness. And the city caught in an endless cycle is filled with a myriad of echoes.

Again and again, the little coloured beetle tries to get out of the sink. The surface is so slippery! When he has almost made it, the tap is opened and the watery whirlpool carries him into the wide world. It’s quite perilous at first, but after a while it turns out to be only the beginning of a wonderful journey.

A video art by Aleksi Soselia featuring Mount Kazbek.

This short film tells the touching story of Dali, a six-year-old girl living in Soviet Georgia in 1946, who discovers an unlikely friendship with Frank, a German prisoner working in the fields near her home.

In Spring 2022 Masha prepares to leave Russia — her homeland that has changed. It turns into a chain of unexpected farewells: her mom dies of cancer, her lover flees army conscription, everything including her own old self is falling apart. Her way to cope with the grief is to fixate everything with her camera. Her anger guides her to inner emigration to the local underground scene, which became an escape for young russians. This kaleidoscope of shards chronicles not only spirit of the time, but the director’s personality crumbling against the backdrop of global turmoil.

Any civil war destroys spirituality. It truly is a tragedy, especially for a small country like Georgia. This film-mystery shows the situation in Georgia from 1992 to 2003 and is made using the stream of consciousness technique.

Georgian Film is one of world’s oldest movie studios and has produced 800 full-length, short, and made-for-TV features, 600 documentaries and 300 animation movies. Now in 2015, it looks like a ghost land. 3 employees – Robert, an Armenian, Gavaz, a Kurd and Nani, a Georgian – are working together in the laboratory like a family. They keep everything and wait for better times. -The DocYard

Leni Bergasasco is the victim of greed and tricks of seven people in different parts of his life who have destroyed his soul and body. Now, Leni’s 50th birthday is approaching and Dubi, his dog, has decided to give him revenge as his birthday present. Here, on the 50th anniversary of Leni’s birthday, the seven wrongdoers will be punished by his will at Dubi’s court.

Associations on the Music of Alfred Schnittke - A Film Poem by Shotiko Kalandadze

Alexandre, 22, lives with her mother and her little sister in a makeshift apartment. While his mother is out for the day, Alex must take care of his sister. He promised to take her to the cinema, but before that he will take her with him to his drug dealer…

Grandmother while watching the performance, she first time gets into the dialogue with herself, before the moment she did not have time. After entering the dialogue with herself, it is a dangerous dialogue as psychologically it will form a some kind of a conflict. The conflict might expose outside or might stay inside in the interior. During the circus performance grandmother goes through the rite of passage.

An old house and a forbidden door mark the start of an interesting life for an 8-year-old boy. His curiosity is satisfied and he achieves the life-long aim of his grandfather though, in contrast to the old man, once he grows up he finds his other half and manages to take a step into the blue ocean, towards the rising sun. Great deeds are achieved when the goal is set higher than one would imagine could be achieved.

An adventure film about bullying, friendship, and trust.

VNEBA featuring Tamada - WINNER OF ELECTRONAUTS XII

Survivors of the Abkhaz-Georgian war find themselves under pressure to leave the disused luxury hotel where they have lived for more than 30 years.

The world of a 40-year-old filmmaker is thrown into chaos when he accidentally kills his wife's lover.

In 2012, 82-year-old Data woke up one morning, expecting a visit from his granddaughter, daughter, and son-in-law. However, he noticed something unusual outside his house, marking the beginning of a tragic ordeal that separated him from his loved ones and home country. This is the true story of Data's initial moments in a cruel new reality.

Film speaks about the reality that exists in Georgia in parallel with the other, the one that is in plain sight. The main character, trying to find and realize himself, loses the line between reality and illusion and loses an alter ego. After a desperate attempt to somehow realize his plans, he again "finds himself." This is a tender portrait of identity shot in a subtle mix between documentary and fiction.

What happens when the imagination puts the mind into the unreal borders of false fear, the world around transforms into prison, and the only way out seems to be an escape to the new imagination, to the visual creation of the mind.

There are two small Georgian villages from the Middle Ages left in the mountainous Racha region, Ghebi and Chiora. The villages are isolated from the whole of Georgia, as there is no way to get to the them. The towns are emptying as the young people, in search of better future, depart, leaving only the old folk to try to continue scraping by in the harsh mountainous climate.

Theater actor Bakur, in order to collect money, to take his girlfriend to concert, decides to take a week off and start working by driving taxi. This is how he meets with many unknown people on the streets of Tbilisi.

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.

After a long time, brother and sister meet each other and during a small trip they recall the reasons for their disagreement.

Badri is a 13-year-old boy who lives in a remote village in the countryside of the Samtredia region of Georgia. His home, the places where he grew up become the set of a film. In the loneliness of the village, destined to become more and more depopulated, Badri’s movie is a horror movie.

In a land where mud holds memory, a little girl named Tako embarks us through myth and imagination, crafting new stories from ancient echoes.

Nutsa ends up in the camp against her will. The determined little girl manages to make the holidays unbearable for everyone and carry out her plan to destroy the camp, but after the adventures she discovers the value of true friendship...

The film tells about a journey by car from Georgia to Germany and back. Don't think this is a simple trip, it has a special purpose - to buy a car cheaply in Germany and then sell it in Georgia.

Young, adventurous English teacher is assigned to carry out a ‘linguistic revolution’ in the remote Georgian village. Basically looking for new adventures, a young teacher finds himself on the frontier of the big political change in the country. In order to get rid of the Soviet legacy and engage with the western world, government initiates a project to ‘invade’ Georgia with English speakers. Excited traveler is determined to contribute to a ‘radical changes’ in a small post soviet country. But when the first wave of excitement disappears, he is confronted with the gloomy reality.

War orphans Elene and Leo have lived with their grandfather Davit in a small village near the town of Gori in Georgia since they were very young. Although the Russian-Georgian war of 2008 took place years ago, its effects are still clearly present: the border illegally erected by the Russian military runs close to the small family's home and is increasingly threatening their existence due to the creeping relocation.

Startup Generation is a documentary film about Georgian tech startup ecosystem. The film is produced by Tbilisi Startup Bureau, with support from Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom South Caucasus.

A fairytale film about the spoiled New Year celebration, confronting reality, and viewing life from a new perspective. As Tbilisi, Georgia, prepares for New Year’s festivities, an 8-year-old boy loses a finger amid fireworks while being chased by a food delivery scooter.

A hot summer day in Tbilisi. The market is still closed, and the only living presence is the local dogs. With the break of day, truckloads of watermelons arrive, people begin to bustle, farmers haggle. Soon, a new shopping centre will take over this place — a building set to erase the life that still lingers here. As we follow people setting off into their day, through the shifting landscape and the call of mythical sirens, our gaze settles on a single fruit vendor who finds himself in a confrontation between life and death. One life equals one village — or perhaps, the entire country?

After 20 years, by a strange twist of fate, the paths of Maro and Mitua, now Dimitri, cross again. Maro will try everything to get her Mitou back, but the past becomes impossible to get back.

Retraces the roots of the escapade of a group of Georgians in their twenties who hijacked an Aeroflot passenger plane on November 18, 1983 from Tbilisi.

The Pshavi people of the eastern mountains of the Republic of Georgia perform a ritual which can be characterized as a syncretism of ancient polytheistic beliefs and Orthodox Christian faith, but which is qualified by city habitants of Tbilisi as "pagan". The ritual of Tamar and Lashari celebrates queen Tamar (12-13th century) and her son Lasha, deified by the mountain dwellers. Each year, and for three days, on the hillside of a Caucasus valley, pilgrims consecutively meet at two sanctuaries consecrated to these deities and worship them through prayers, songs and sacrifices, enjoying at the same time food and happy chats with friends they have not seen for a year. In addition to prayers and sacrifices by a shrine priest, religious songs are an essential part of the ritual.

Single mom Anna is forced to take three, then four jobs to support herself and her austistic son who lives in a children’s home. When it all becomes too much to bear, she decides to leave Georgia and travel to the US. But getting tickets and a fake visa is easier said than done.

A young artist returns to his hometown after many years and finds that it no longer feels like home. He begins wandering the city with a friend to reconnect with his childhood memories. During their journey he witnesses firsthand how environmental issues are eroding the city's once vibrant appearance and character. The artist's sense of alienation from the city acts like armor, helping him confront his fears and traumas. Through this film he also strives to rediscover himself.

Under the severe political regime a lead journalist is murdered, while the only private channel is literally bombed. In these circumstances a private political theater is opened, right in front of the government building.

An arrogant and entitled coward stumbles upon a magical sword and by an unbelievable prevalence of dumb luck in his life gets renowned as a hero.

Tragicomic understanding of life, global irony about the total falsehood and general degradation of the communist society. The last days of the passing time.

The world has become akin to an abandoned video game: frozen and endless. State of Emergency wants to recreate this strange video-game reality. The film is an attempt to save a place in time: to describe it, and to remember it. Our current present — our own state of emergency, the Covid-19 pandemic — began more than a year ago, and no one knows how long it will last. The main markers of this new reality are isolation and distance. In the film, we see a virtual city has become like time itself, a labyrinth that is endless and uncertain. Meanwhile, lines from a diary collect the disparate thoughts accumulated over the course of a month.

A story about a father with mental problems and his 13-year-old daughter who live in a cabin in the woods. He is obsessed with completing his painting, which he thinks shall give him the key to the universe. She is trying to support him by pretending that she shares his enthusiasm…

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Saba, eighteen years old youngster, who lives with his father's old friend, makes money in a dirty way with his friend. After a sudden death of his friend, Saba's older brother, a revolutionary, invites him to his base and changes his life forever.

The villager boy feels the most comfortable when he is in the mountains, where he is following his father's footsteps. When he goes on a field trip with his classmates or finds himself in other social settings, he is more timid and apprehensive. When in the village, Tazo is mostly directed by his grandmother. Tazo is the most obeying when he is with his mother. Tazo's father takes him to the city for the first time, where a lot of things are novel for the boy.

“Kokrochina” is a Georgian folk tale about a mischievous and brave boy who is called Kokrochina instead of being referred to by his real name. He becomes involved in various adventures, encounters witches and other magical creatures, and always manages to escape danger through his intelligence, resourcefulness, and courage.

In a future where all births take place in incubators, a flicker of hope stirs when a girl is born without red eyes.

Action of the film takes place in the capital city of Georgia. The film leading character is Zuzu, a young successful businessman, owner and manager of Iberia Business Group. Zuzu has close relationship with advertising and modeling business representatives, he is a part of their circle and the darling of ladies. However, as it turns out, he is a knight and even a big adventurer for the sake of love.