Georgia
OVID’s films from the Republic of Georgia showcase the diversity and vibrancy of contemporary Georgian cinema, from idiosyncratic comedies to melancholy portraits of post-Soviet economic crisis. From Salomé Jashi, The Dazzling Light of Sunset finds absurdist humor in one local broadcast journalist’s struggle with bureaucratic dysfunction, while her latest film, Taming the Garden, chronicles a wealthy Georgian politician’s surreal project to relocate centuries-old trees to his private garden.
Surveying the landscape of cultural and economic change, the Sundance award-winning documentary The Machine That Makes Everything Disappear and City of the Sun give voice to ordinary Georgians as they navigate a society shot through with social and ethnic divisions. Blending offbeat humor with moments of human insight, these filmmakers find their own idiom to express the complexity of living in modern-day Georgia.
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City of the Sun
Directed by Rati Oneli • Documentary • 2017 • 100 minutes
Chiatura is a city in Western Georgia. There was a time when it supplied 50% of the world's manganese, and at its peak the mine employed up to 10,000 workers. Today, with drastically reduced manganese production, dangerous working conditi...
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The Dazzling Light of Sunset
Directed by Salomé Jashi • Documentary • With Dariko Beria, Kakha Kvaratskhelia • 2016 • 74 minutes
Flanked by her laconic sidekick, Dariko is the only broadcast journalist at a local Georgian television channel. With inadequate resources, she races from one report to another to give an honest, ...
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Glory to the Queen
Directed by Tatia Skhirtladze • Documentary • With Nona Gaprindashvili, Nana Alexandria, Maia Chiburdanidze and Nana Ioseliani • 2020 • 82 minutes
Leading us to Tbilisi, Georgia, Glory to the Queen reveals the interwoven biographies of the world chess heroes Nona Gaprindashvili, Nana Alexandria,...
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The Machine Which Makes Everything Disappear
Directed by Tinatin Gurchiani • Documentary • 2013 • 101 minutes
A filmmaker puts out a casting call for young adults, aged 15- to 23. The director wants to make a film about growing up in her home country, Georgia, and find commonalities across social and ethnic lines. She travels through citie...
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Our Blood is Wine
Directed by Emily Railsback • Documentary • With Jeremy Quinn, Ramaz Nikoladze, Giorgi Natenadze, Mariam Iosebidze, Luarsab Togonidze • 2018 • 78 minutes
Filmmaker Emily Railsback and award-winning sommelier Jeremy Quinn provide intimate access to rural family life in the Republic of Georgia as ...
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Please Hold The Line
Directed by Pavel Cuzuic • Documentary • With Marius Marcovici, Georgi Tcholakov • 2020 • 86 minutes
Cable technicians in Eastern Europe navigate a modern-day Tower of Babel. With unflappable humor and a dose of philosophy, the technicians hold the line in a dissonant world.
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Taming The Garden
Directed by Salomé Jashi • Documentary • 2021 • 92 minutes
A powerful and anonymous man has developed an unusual hobby. He buys century-old trees, some as tall as 15-story buildings, from communities along the Georgian coast and has them excavated to collect them for his private garden. In order...
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And Then We Danced (Levan Akin)
Directed by Levan Akin • Drama • With Levan Gelbakhiani, Bachi Valishvili, Ana Javakishvili • 2020 • 113 minutes
A passionate tale of love and liberation set amidst the conservative confines of modern Georgian society, AND THEN WE DANCED follows Merab, a devoted dancer who has been training for ...
