Zviad Dolidze. Whole Life in film

(The Shengelaya Family)

In the history of world cinema are many events when several members of one family were (or are) involved in the film industry. These are: the Lumiere brothers, the Pathe brothers, the Melies brothers (all in France), the Latham family, the Coppola family (in the United States), the Skladanovsky brothers (in Germany), and so on. The same precedents are in Georgia too, a notable example of which is the Shengelaya family (father, mother and sons), who made a special contribution to the development of Georgian national cinema. Such "Film Family Dynasties" is not uncommon to the Georgian reality.

The Shengelaya family is presented on the Georgian cinema forefront for almost a century. First the elder Shengelaya, Nikoloz and his wife, Nato Vachnadze appeared in cinema and earned fame: Nikoloz was a screenwriter and film director, and Nato was an actress, the "Star" of the Georgian silent film. Their sons, Eldar and Giorgi, mastered their father's profession and became prominent members of "The Generation of Sixties" (or the Georgian "New Wave").

Natalia (Nato) Vachnadze (maiden surname - Andronikashvili) appeared in the cinema accidentally. In 1923 one of the employees of Georgian film studio discovered her photo on front stand-up of the photo atelier of Tbilisi (capital of Georgia), he liked it, found this 19-year-old young woman and invited her to film industry. The parents of Nato's husband - Merab Vachnadze at first were against of such offer but then allowed her to go on shooting. Nato Vachnadze was appointed in a leading role of the Vladimir Barsky's feature film "Arsena the Robber".

At that time Georgian filmmaking was taking the first steps. Since establishing the Soviet power in Georgia in February 1921, special attention had been paid to cinema as a mass field of art. Before that, Georgians made several dozen documentaries and one feature film. The new government created a Film Section, where were collected people of different nationalities which already had experience working in film industry.

Of course Georgian cinema, like in other countries, mainly received the actors from theatre although there were cases when the beautiful and imaginative persons, non-professionals, were invited to the set and the best of them became the popular actors.

Certainly in the first days Nato Vachnadze found difficult to play the role. It is natural because at such time the actor standing at the front of the camera experiences a kind of fear and embarrassment but the director and other members of the film crew helped her to overcome this. They meticulously explained every detail characteristic to the actor, taught the nuances of speech and movement, conducted individual rehearsals.

The first role was followed by the second - this time, in the same year, Nato played the main character in Amo Bek-Nazarov's film "The Killer of Father". The process of gaining experience was continued, though already in the hands of another director. The hero of Nato is a tragic woman who is involved in an intrigue (blamed for the murder of her own father) as a result of which she exiles and dies.

In 1923 the Film Section was transformed into the Joint Stock Company (State Film Industry) which, due to the circumstances, released "The Killer of Father" in 1924, and a month later - "Arsena the Robber". The audience was fascinated by the roles of Nato Vachnadze. It was almost unthinkable for the film audience of that period to believe that such an inexperienced actress could create such remarkable screen faces. The press welcomed her appearance with admiration. One critic called her the "Queen of the Georgian Screen" ¹. Nato herself was amazed by the immense popularity of these films and out of joy felt herself in a dream.

Meanwhile, she received another invitation for the two films at once - "Three Lives" and "The Murder Case of Tariel Mklavadze", which were to be shot by Ivan Perestiani. This man differed from Barsky and Bek-Nazarov. He tried his best to develop an inner mood of the actor while working, for which he explained in detail the character traits, the essence, purpose, peculiarities of the role. Perestiani, as a true professional, further aroused Nato's interest in refining her acting skills. 

Both films were based on samples of Georgian literature, dramatic works, in which the main female protagonists are given a special load. They because of their beauty and charm are victims of the violence of the others and tragically end their lives. Preparing for such roles required Nato Vachnadze to take an extraordinary and responsible approach in order to first get to know their difficult characters properly and then follow the director's instructions exactly. The filming process was fruitful. "Three Lives" was released in 1924 and "The Case of the Murder of Tariel Mklavadze" in 1925. By these roles Nato Vachnadze achieved such recognition, which any professional film actor would envy. She developed her acting mastery perfectly, presented her creative talent through hard work and showed everyone how positive is a result of purposeful and thoughtful work in cinema for both the actress and her numerous fans.

The beauty of Nato deserves a special mention. "Nato Vachnadze had an unusual appearance. Her pale and sorrowful face attracted everyone with something mysterious. All were especially captivated by the eyes - the sincere, big, wide eyes, which, in addition of purity and innocence, also expressed deep sadness. The woman of delicate beauty was presented from the screen, at the same time her simplicity could pay attention” ². Indeed, Nato with her charm and emotional transformation, conveyed to the film the polite, expression, feeling and intelligence characteristic of a Georgian woman. Her authority grew even more and her arsenal of the acting techniques became even richer.

The famous theatre directors Konstantine (Kote) Marjanishvili and Aleksandre Tsutsunava were invited to the film industry to breathe new life to Georgian cinema, although both of them already had some experience in this field. Kote Marjanishvili previously shot two films in Ukraine and Russia, and Alexander Tsutsunava shot the first Georgian feature film "Christine" several years ago. They became actively involved in the film industry and decided to dedicate the very first film projects to the national themes. In addition, the film industry also invited the young talented persons, who were able to use their intellectual abilities to help filmmakers create interesting film productions.

One of them was the poet Nikoloz (Kolya) Shengelaya, who had no film education or practice. Once Kote Marjanishvili saw Kolya sitting on a tree, reciting his futuristic poems to a group of people gathered under a tree. He liked the young man so much that took him to the film studio and appointed as his assistant in the film "Before the Storm" (1925). While working as an assistant director, Shengelaya was given the opportunity to get acquainted with the film directing and editing processes, as well as other nuances of filmmaking.

The public discussion of Marjanishvili's film took place in the hall of the State Conservatory, where the opinion of the audience was divided: some liked the film, some did not. Nikoloz Shengelaya defended the film, while Nato Vachnadze rejected it. Because of this they argued. Excited Shengelaya directly announced her - you do not understand real art, you are satisfied only with your success. Their dispute continued the next day when they accidentally met each other in the street. Shengelaya told Nato that if I ever became a film director, I will not give you even a role of mere servant  ³.

After that Nikoloz Shengelaya worked in several film crews - once as an assistant director and two times as a co-screenwriter. He continued to write poems that were published in magazines and newspapers and actively participated in the meetings of representatives of literature and art.

Alexandre Tsutsunava for screening chose the popular Georgian play "Who is Guilty?". He invited Nato for the main woman role. For him she was an actress a beam of a Georgian female was shown out her face and eyes but she still needed a lot to take care for improving her acting individualism ⁴. Nato was well aware of this circumstance too and wanted to learn more for which she could not have wished a better teacher than Tsutsunava. The director worked perfectly with the actors, explaining to them what and how to do. Nato became a real dramatic film actress in his hands. She emphasized in her memoirs that Tsutsunava "was the first director to meet me on my acting career who worked by the Stanislavski method. During rehearsals, he tried to remake the actor play into the expression of psychological truth. He always gave a precise task, could find the proper condition and goals. A. Tsutsunava talked us about the character of the persons we were supposed to play, analyzed the role and outlined its development. Clearly, such work had a particular interest. This work was experimental and brought great benefits, as it helped to deepen the actor's knowledge and give him a creative experience.” ⁵.

The film "Who is Guilty?" (1925) became very popular. It set a record in terms of audience attendance in Georgian cinemas. This work, later renamed "Wild West Rider", was released in other Soviet republics and abroad, where it gathered a large audience. The film, the director and the actors were highly praised in the Georgian and Soviet Union press, but there were also critical remarks, one of which was Nikoloz Shengelaya's article in the newspaper “Drouli”, in which the author expressed wish that Nato needed more work for reaching the perfect acting skills. Shengelaya wrote: “In my opinion, in none of other films, nor in "Three Lives" too, Nato Vachnadze had been such a complete performer of her role. Observed filmgoers cannot deny that Nato Vachnadze had all the means to be a good screen actress, but she lacks the main thing - it is a conscious organization of actress psychology and its use according to its role. Achieving such a result is a thoughtful face, moderate and lively, not a fake play, the actor's nerve, thought, passion in the content of the scene. There are different methods for this. "Who is Guilty?" should be the most interesting for Nato Vachnadze. She is already consciously starting to play a role. It seems that she has reached the level of acting, but it is clear that a lot of work is needed to finish it." ⁶.

Soon Amo Bek-Nazarov started working on the film "Natela" (1926), in which the main role was played by Nato Vachnadze. It was a historical drama about the peasant uprising in Georgia, in XIX century against the policies of the Russian Empire. The director continued to create films in his own style, which conveyed the past, the plight of the people and the resulting protest. In doing so, he paid some tribute to the national theme in order to meet the demands of both the Georgian film industry management and the wide audience and bring in as much commercial profit as possible, although like his other films, this work was more exotic, lacked spiritual depth, and superficially were presented historical facts and events. Nato Vachnadze, compared to her previous roles, had to play a different character, which turned out to be quite important for her in terms of professional skills. Karlo Gogodze, a historian of Georgian cinema, pointed out in this regard: "Working on this character paved the way the way to Nato Vachnadze to try her creative power in completely different heroes, change the "role" written for her and create completely different, more active women faces. This role had great practical importance in the creative life of the actress." ⁷.

The films of Nato Vachnadze brought a lot of income, the critics enthusiastically wrote about her acting achievements, the audience went to the cinemas several times to see each of her new films. In 1926 a collection of articles dedicated to Nato was published ⁸, which sold out quickly. There were the reviews, memoirs, and evaluations of various filmmakers and film critics about Nato Vachnadze as a distinguished leader of the Georgian film acting art. 

In the same 1926 year the management of the Georgian Film Industry appointed two young men - Nikoloz Shengelaya and Lev Push as directors of the film “Giuli”. That was their test film project. The debutants hired another young talented young man - Mikheil Kalatozishvili (hereinafter - Kalatozov) as the cameraman and co-screenwriter of the film, and Nato Vachnadze was called to play the main character - Giuli. Shengelaya was fallen in love with NATO at that time, so he seems to have either forgotten his promises that he would never shoot this woman in any of his movies, or no longer paid attention to it.

The film was based on the short story of the same name by Georgian writer Shio Aragvispireli, which is built on the "love triangle" and describes outdated customs, religious fanaticism and tragic love. Nato Vachnadze with her usual skill embodied a cinematic face full of emotions and inner passion of a young woman. During the filming process, she carefully observed the stylistics of Shengelaya's work, his practice of producing a suitable mood for roles of actors, his original film directing, and so on. She felt in love with Kolya so much that divorced Merab Vachnadze and married Shengelaya. Part of the society reacted negatively to Nato's second marriage, but the actress did not regret the choice.

"Giuli" was released in 1927. The directors used new film techniques in it, peculiar methods of conveying the story, which earned the praise of the press. Nevertheless, Shengelaya called his debut a "disciple work" ⁹. Of course, the film had some drawbacks as it came out monotonous and schematic, but the film critics clearly avoided to note them in the hope of the debutants' future success, and they not be mistaken - in later years both lived up to expectations.

In 1926-1927 Kote Marjanishvili shot two films, adaptations of foreign classic literature – “The Gadfly” (based on the same name novel of Ethel Lilian Voynich) and “Amok” (based on the same name novella of Stefan Zweig). In both of them, Marjanishvili tested how he could shot the non-Georgian themes and how appropriate would be such a step. In both films he had an excellent acting ensemble and, of course, Nato Vachnadze, who continued to fascinate the audience with her enchanting beauty and original talent of the transformation.

Nikoloz Shengelaya always looked for interesting topics to remake them into the film. First of all, he paid attention to Georgian fiction literature, which is quite rich by a variety of the topics. At that time, writer, poet and playwriter Sergei Tretyakov, who came to Georgia from Moscow, wanted to help his Georgian colleagues in the development of film dramaturgy, because he also had experience working in film industry. He and Nikoloz Shengelaya wrote the screenplay based on the short story "Eliso" by the famous Georgian writer Alexandre Kazbegi, but during the work they shifted the accents, changed the several episodes, which, instead of a melodramatic line, brought forward the historical background of the Kazbegi's story. Particularly, the purpose of the screenwriters was to show how the King government oppressed people of different nationalities living in the Russian Empire in the XIX century. For Shengelaya this was a topic radically different from the previous film adaptations in Georgian cinema, so he, along with the co-screenwriter, carefully studied historical materials and used old, archival documents to prove that the government of that time for strengthening its state borders in the north Caucasus wanted to relocate the local Chechens from there to Turkey and to settle the Cossacks on their territories. Critic Akaki Bakradze pointed out about this: “Thus, it turns out that the plot and composition of the story and the film, nature and development of the conflict, specific situations and the characters are fundamentally different. It is true that the same problem is posed, but the means of its artistic display and solution are different ” ¹⁰.

Nikoloz Shengelaya was appointed as the director of the film, and started filming attentively. For the main role, Eliso, he invited not his wife, but her sister, Kira Andronikashvili, who previously played in a couple of films. Kira brilliantly performed the character and portrayed the screen face of a young protagonist woman who is both a patriot and a sweetheart.

Generally, Shengelaya took great care of the work, every detail and especially, the selection of actors. He also showed excellent rhythmic editing skills and used a rather strange technique - in the editing room he played on a bench, as on the drum, while his assistant and editor, Vasil Dolenko, measured the film according to the playing tact and edited it. This method was new not only for Georgian, but for the whole Soviet cinema.

The film was highly praised by the press. It was noted that there was already a strong creative force in Georgia in the face of Nikoloz Shengelaya and his associates, who could manage to shoot such highly artistic works.

In October 1928, the premiere of "Eliso" took place in Moscow, where the merits and landmark importance of this film was emphasizing. The famous Soviet film director Vsevolod Pudovkin admired the work of his Georgian colleague and said that from now our Soviet cinema will look quite strong and will continue to do so in the future ¹¹.

By emotional background, compositional set and gradual escalation of dramatic events, "Eliso" broke the previous traditions in Georgian cinema and by new vision presented not any exotic film shot by others, but Caucasian people fighting for freedom.

In 1929, at the behest of the Soviet government, the film was sent to the International Film and Photography Exhibition in Stuttgart (Germany) and screened alongside other Soviet films such as are Vsevolod Pudovkin's "The Heir of Genghis Khan", Alexander Dovzhenko's "Arsenal", Dziga Vertov's "Man with a Movie Camera". Each film of this program earned great interest and approval from foreign viewers and film specialists. "Eliso" was released in other countries too and in some of them (for example in the USA) it was called "Caucasian Love". This film also had some influence on individual foreign filmmakers.

Nato Vachnadze was invited in Moscow for playing in a joint film of the Soviet Union and Germany, "The Living Corpse" (1929, directed by Fyodor Otsep). the Filming took place in Moscow and Berlin. After that she moved to Kiev (Ukraine), where starred in two films in 1930-1931. This was followed by another trip to Moscow. This time, Nato was hired by renowned documentary filmmaker and editor Esfir Shub as her practicing assistant.

Nikoloz Shengelaya worked on several film projects. He was most interested in the topic of 26 Baku commissars and wanted to make historical-revolutionary film about it. The same goal was pursued by two Soviet film studios - "Mezhrabpomfilm" (Russia) and "Azerfilm" (Azerbaijan), but only in 1931 it was decided to shoot the film at the "Azerfilm" Baku Film Studio and Shengelaya was invited to direct it. He and Alexander Rzheshewski were appointed as the authors of the script. Shengelaya had read many books, magazines, newspapers, found and processed archival materials, viewed numerous photographs, marked filming locations, and so on. He worked so hard and so tirelessly that set a good example for the whole film crew.

Of course, the filming process was accompanied by problems that required time and nervousness to solve. The director used Sergei Eisenstein's style - he did not single out any main, specific hero, and entrusted this function to the mass of revolutionary people. He tried to document the last period of the Baku Commune - the events of August-September 1918 and the episode of the Commissars' shooting. He focused on the emotional aspects, the unusually dramatic composition, the satirical passages, the contrasting techniques, the interesting editing moves. In fact, Shengelaya made a poetic work, a historical epic about the heroes of the ongoing revolutionary chronicles in the territories of the former Russian Empire, in which the expressive side and the skillful staging of mass scenes are especially prominent.

Production of "26 Commissars" ended in early 1932, although its official premiere took place only in February 1933.  Although its author had been dubbed the "Balzac of Cinema" in the press ¹², the film sparked a heated debate involving both film theorists and practitioners, as well as members of various segments of society. Some defended Shengelaya's work, while others criticized it, although everyone agreed that it was a necessary film for that time.

In the spring of 1932, Nikoloz Shengelaya and Nato Vachnadze were already at home in Tbilisi. In 1933, Nato received an invitation to two new Georgian films. In the first, called "The Last Crusaders" (1934, dir. Siko Dolidze) she played the main woman hero, and in the second - in "The Last Masquerade" (1934, dir. Mikheil Chiaureli) a small episodic role. For his part, Kolya was not idle either - he decided to shot Mikheil Sholokhov's novel "Virgin Soil Upturned". He went to Moscow, where met Sholokhov and agreed to write a screenplay together. In the fall of 1933, Shengelaya visited Sholokhov in his native village, Veshenskoe (Russia, Rostov Region), and in three months the script was ready. Shengelaya proudly reported about it in the press ¹³. The film was scheduled to be shot from February 1934 in the same places where Sholokhov lived, but this project was rejected by the highest organization of Soviet cinema - the Main Administration of Film and Photo Industry and production of it was discontinued.

In the summer of 1934, the Georgian Film Industry commissioned Nikoloz Shengelaya and writer Leo Kiacheli to write a screenplay describing the life of a modern Georgian village. By itself, it had to be built on the method of socialist realism and had to show the life and labor of happy Soviet people. The first version of the screenplay was disliked by the management of film studio and returned to the authors for processing. In three months they wrote a completely new, different screenplay and presented it in July 1935. The title of the next film was "The Orange Field", and Shengelaya and Diomide Antadze were appointed as directors. They chose Nato Vachnadze and Levan Khotivari (later a famous film director) for the main characters.

Production of this film dragged on considerably. The actors and the rest of the film crew arrived in one of the villages, where they studied citrus picking, other collective farming, and the dialect of the local peasants. Shengelaya rehearsed with each of them, rehearsing the actors in scenes that were not written in the script at all, explaining that he wanted them to achieve more naturalness that might resemble the characters they were supposed to portray in front of a movie camera. He was quite strict and demanding, first of all, towards himself, and then - towards others.

The number of obstacles aroused during the filming process. With the intervention of the representatives of the higher organizations, the film directors had to insert sub-themes in the plot that did not correspond to their original plan. Such forced steps became a constant companion of whole Georgian cinema at that time. One clear example of this is the last episode, when parachutists participating in military exercises to strengthen the country's defense capabilities fly down to the village and the locals greet them solemnly. It is noteworthy that this part was additionally filmed when the work on the film was completed.

"The Orange Field" hit the screens in 1937, but did not last long, as government officials "discovered" some more unacceptable motives and details in it and prevented its widespread distribution.

During that time, Nato Vachnadze played character roles in the films: "Arsena" (1937, dir. Mikheil Chiaureli) and "Girl from Khidobani Village" (1939, dir. Diomide Antadze). She continued to shine on the screen.

Nikoloz Shengelaya's next film "Motherland" (1939) was dedicated to the patriotism of the Soviet people. The government required filmmakers to show exposure of the domestic bribed pests or other pests sent to the Soviet Union by foreign, hostile states, and this work became a peculiar echo of that demand. It is true that this film toured the cinemas of the Soviet Union and brought in considerable revenue, but at the same time it was poor work, as evidenced by poorly staged massive scenes, "strict schematic of the characters" ¹⁴, weak dialogues, many times torn dramatic structure. Nato Vachnadze played the main role in this film.

In 1941, Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union and a war started. Soviet cinema switched to producing film chronicles and short feature films. Of course, most of the them reflected the theme of the war. Nikoloz Shengelaya made such film "In the Black Mountains" (1941), which depicts the struggle of Serbian partisans against the German occupiers. He twice appealed to the military service to go to war, but the first time it was announced that the government needed masters like him at film studio, and on the second attempt it turned out that he had heart problems, so doctors forbade him even to think of such an intention.

In the fall of 1942, Shengelaya began working on the full-length film "He will Come Back Again", which was planned to be shot in the villages of Eastern Georgia. It was dedicated to the selfless labor of the people who remained at home during the war. In their spare time, the filmmakers helped local peasants with agricultural work instead of resting. Nato Vachnadze played the main role here as well. The director, full of enviable energy, appeared a heart problem again. His wife and friends advised him to return to the capital and receive medical treatment, while co-director Diomide Antadze would continue filming, but Nikoloz refused. In early 1943, when the nature shootings were over, the crew traveled to Tbilisi to complete the other parts of the film in the interiors of the film studio. Shengelaya was driving one of the trucks himself. On the way he became ill and died. He was only 42 years old. This sad example clearly shows that heroism did not take place only on the battlefield of the war.

Nikoloz Shengelaya was a true professional, whose short work in film industry, full of search, is a perfect example for any filmmaker. He spared no effort to master the profession of film director. He carefully studied, worked on and prepared each film project for filming. Understanding the narrative structure of the film and moving it correctly on the screen was his main task. Through his masterpiece "Eliso", Shengelaya became famous not only in the Soviet Union, but also abroad. No less important is the work "26 Commissars". The author of these films can be considered the "founder of montage-poetic cinema" ¹⁵ in Soviet film.

In the 1940s Nato Vachnadze participated in three films. Two of these were supporting roles, and one was an episodic role. In 1951 she played another role in the film "The Conquerors of the Peaks". Two years later, on her birthday, the first "Star" of Georgian cinema, 49-year-old Nato was flying from Moscow to Tbilisi. The plane crashed in western Georgia. No one could escape this accident.

The sons of Nikoloz Shengelaya and Nato Vachnadze - Eldar and Giorgi at different times graduated from the Soviet Union State Institute of Cinema (VGIK) with a degree in film directing. The Shengelaya brothers, instead of the classic clichés of socialist realism, used critical realism in their films, metaphor, parable, symbol, boldly exposing the vicious sides of society.

In 1957, Eldar Shengelaya and Alexei Sakharov shot the diploma film "Legend of the Frozen Heart". The following year, this feature film released in Moscow cinemas. Eldar returned to Georgia, but was soon summoned to the "Mosfilm" studio in Moscow, where he again, along with Sakharov, made the children film "The Snow Tale" (1959) which also brought the commercial revenue. Although Eldar was advised by friends to stay at "Mosfilm" and pursue a career there, he left for Georgia and continued his work at Studio "Georgian Film".

During his student years and after Giorgi Shengelaya, as an actor, participated in five Georgian feature films. In four of them he was partnered by his wife, a well-known theater and film actress, Sofiko Chiaureli, a representative of another prominent Georgian film family (the family of film director Mikheil Chiaureli and actress Veriko Anjaparidze).

For the first time Giorgi, as a film director, attracted attention with his debut film. It was his diploma work, the short feature film "Alaverdoba" (1962), in which he presented flawless cinematic thinking. The main hero confronts the society - he rebels against the degrade old traditions and tries to awaken the people who almost mechanically participate in the public holiday dedicated to the harvest, which is held in Eastern Georgia, in the Alaverdi church and its surroundings. The film is based on the story of the same name of a young writer, Guram Rcheulishvili, which describes a real event - the author participated in it himself.

The director magnificently conveyed the essence of the literary source. In this case it can be said that it is one of the good film adaptations, perfectly perceived, originally interpreted and excellently shot. The work of cameraman Alexandre Rekhviashvili is especially noteworthy, which reflected his large-scale talent for the perception of space. Giorgi Shengelaya for the main hero invited a non-professional actor, student (future engineer) Geidar Palavandishvili, who perfectly adapted to the character of his hero. In itself, this is a great merit of the director himself, who found this impressive-looking man and created a memorable movie hero out of him.

"Alaverdoba", which was the beginning of Giorgi Shengelaya's distinguished professional cinematic path, clearly showed that its creator did not believe in usual film directing style of the Georgian cinema at all, but was in search of his own, different handwriting, which will give him a special niche in the near future.

In 1963 the film "The White Caravan" by Eldar Shengelaya and Tamaz Meliava was released. The authors, for various reasons, took a long time to create it. The story is built on a conflict situation and conveys the hard and responsible labor of shepherds. The protagonist, in order to change the living conditions, confronts his own father and other shepherds, which leads to tragedy. Such an attitude between the generations, the protest expressed by the youth in various forms, had been shown in many Soviet films before, but most of them either reflected the old times (pre-revolutionary XX century and XIX or previous centuries), or this protest was not so strong. The filmmakers portray a protagonist who is in a kind of vicious circle and wants to break through, get tired of herding sheep and dreamed of moving to a city. Because of this, he makes fatal mistakes, which lead to disastrous consequences. Eldar Shengelaya recalled: "The White Caravan" is important in that we turned away from the stencil, to show real life, a real person ¹⁶. Turning away from the stencil meant falling out of the confines of socialist realism, displaying an infallible reality instead of being embellished.

"The White Caravan" has a very good acting ensemble - both old and young generation actors. The main woman role in the film was played by Eldar's wife, Ariadna Shengelaya, who was already an experienced film actress at that time.

For the next film project Giorgi Shengelaya again applied to Georgian fiction literature. He chose the short story "The Award" by the famous writer Mikheil Javakhishvili. The plot is related to the beginning of the XX century and conveys the rise of the laborers' revolutionary movement in Georgia, which was then a part of the Russian Empire. The main hero, who serves as a gendarme, is accidentally killed a laborer during the dispersal of a strike of the railway workers. He is very saddened by this fact, tries to offer the rewarded money received from the government to the laborer's mother, but in vain. Eventually, he gets rid of his uniform and weapons and runs from the city to the village to return to his native place, where he might forget the tragedy.

The short film "Award" (1965) is an interesting attempt to show the chronicles of the past by a modern eye. In it, from the director's side is "revealed academism and analytical stylistics" ¹⁷, striving for documentaryism, presenting the turbulent spiritual world of the person. Unlike the literary source, the main purpose of which is to evoke the killer's feelings, the film depicts the Georgian colorful ethnographic existence and culture, which perfectly merges and completes a single story line. "You watch the film, and you are surprised by the director's artistic temperament, the sense of the epoch, the peculiar sense of editing and rhythm. We do not deny that there are literally "empty spaces" in the picture, obviously unjustified moments, the author-filmmaker failed to open on the screen a severe psychological conflict of the literary work and often drew a line between the idea and its implementation. But even in the sharp and energetically developed exposition of the film, in the episode of the clash on the railway, in the composition of the frame diagonally crossed by the rails and in the pure cinematic sense of the movement of human figures, the author of "Alaverdoba" can be seen." ¹⁸. Indeed, the search process started by Giorgi Shengelaya in the previous work continued in this film as well and bore new fruit - the refined taste of the director, the original style gave birth to another example of how to skillfully transfer a literary work to the screen without losing its sharpness and enriching its plot by the inspiriting cinematic means of expression.

For his first independent film directing work, Eldar Shengelaya also used Georgian fiction literature, in particular, Davit Kldiashvili's short story "Mikela" and in 1965 made a short film of the same name about the terrible tragedy of one family. The director further intensified the story of the literary source, thus aggravating the spiritual drama of the main hero - Mikela, the world around him. For Eldar Shengelaya, this short film was, on the one hand, experimental and, on the other hand, a kind of rehearsal for the film adaptation of another work of the same writer in the future.

Giorgi Shengelaya always closely followed the development of classic film genres. One of his favorite genres was Western, the best specimens of which magnetically attracted the audience. He also wanted to shoot a Georgian western, but this required to operate the action only in the American "Wild West" (such are the sharply separated norms and laws of this genre, historical and geographical frameworks). As there was no such practice in Georgian cinema, he decided to use the specifics of Westerns to make a Georgian-themed historical-adventure film "Matsi Khvitia" (1966), based on a novel published in the previous century, to which he added historical documents and folk legends.

The film tells the story of the events of the 18th century feudal period in western Georgia, against the background of which the adventure of the main character, a young peasant, Matsi Khvitia, unfolds. The director made some intellectual-stylistic changes in the film compared to the literary work, thus diversifying its plot. Matsi is a typical avenger and fighter for justice, "Georgian Robin Hood", who helps the needy people and is not afraid to fight against the authorities (royal family, nobility, gang leader). He deeply believes that such an action will not end without a trace and that good will eventually triumph over evil. The first factor that "colors the film with romantic and dramatic tones - is the face of Matsi, in which the director continues, but in a different plane, beginning still in "Alaverdoba", search of national character" ¹⁹.

Giorgi Shengelaya again hired a non-professional actor, Aleko Gabechava (driver by profession) for the main role and did not make a mistake in his choice. This actor unusually portrayed a miserable man living in an unfortunate era. The tense story and simplicity of the narration brought the film considerable popularity. It spent a long time in cinemas. It was also often shown on the blue screen of television.

Eldar Shengelaya tried his hand in comedy and shot the excellent film "The Unusual Exhibition" (1968) based on the screenplay by Revaz (Rezo) Gabriadze. Film's protagonist is a provincial sculptor who dreams of creating masterpieces of art, but is forced to work only on orders to support a large family and a retired father - sculpting grave busts, which brings a financial income. The artist, who is fallen into a tragicomic situation, gets used to his fate and once, at midnight, when he accidentally finds himself in the cemetery with his wife, he will hold an opening ceremony of an exhibition of his works. By doing so he will at least slightly satisfy his ambition, will do some rehabilitation of his persona.

There are many unexpected comic moves and satirical passages in this film, the audience attention is drawn to the brilliantly processed heroes, both the main and the supporting characters, a realistic environment, witty lines, ironic subtexts. "Every detail used in the film is taken from life. The authors do not seem to deviate from the existing reality for a second, for them life is not unambiguous but multifaceted. This realism, of course, is conditional, too ... but its artistic persuasiveness is much deeper than documentary similarity or photographic accuracy. Such conditionality frees the director from copying and allows him to grasp the essence of the subject or event. Shengelaya's subjective vision is more strongly expressed in the field of story-content, in which the characters of the main heroes naturally unite ”²⁰. "The Unusual exhibition" received universal recognition and approval. The fact is that its main character failed to create a masterpiece, although the film itself turned out to be a masterpiece of art, which is still relevant today and arouses a great interest of new generations of film lovers. 

The genius Georgian self-taught primitivist painter, Nikoloz Pirosmanashvili (Niko Pirosmani) lived and worked at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. Giorgi Shengelaya liked his paintings since childhood. Both his parents and their freinds were genuine admirers of Pirosmani's creative work. In Moscow, while still a student, he made a small film about this great artist, but this did not satisfy him and, together with the playwriter Erlom Akhvlediani, he wrote a screenplay for a full-length feature biographical film. Working on the script turned out to be not so easy as there was very little material about Pirosmani's life. Shengelaya and Akhvlediani found as much information as possible about the artist, but in the script they focused more on his paintings and based on them chose to show this man's inner passion, his attitude towards people and events, to restore the Georgia imprinted in his eyes. In a word, they wished "not to decipher the mysteries of the past, but to travel to Pirosmani's fabulous, dreamy, and inaccessible art" ²¹ and to avoid obscuring the unknown facts of the pages of his biography.

The main character is performed by a non-professional actor, but a self-taught artist like Pirosmani, Avtandil (Avto) Varazi. Giorgi Shengelaya had already established such an approach in selecting the main actors. Avto Varazi's life and work were very similar to those of Pirosmani - he was also annoyed many times, not appreciated for his work, not given due respect. Varazi fit exactly with Pirosmani's type and character and thus presented an unforgettable screen face.

The film "Pirosmani" (1969) is one of the masterpieces of Georgian cinema, which is a visible example of "Auteur Film". It undoubtedly has an honorable place among the film portraits shot all over the world, because it is distinguished by his unique narrative style, masterful film directing and amazing naturalness. This film had been shown in many countries and the audience had nowhere left indifferent towards it.

A few years later, Giorgi Shengelia again undertook to innovate and shot the first Georgian musical "The Melodies of Vera District" (1973). It clearly showed the director's ability to work perfectly in a variety of genres. The film is not inferior to the classic American musicals in terms of the originality of the theme, the level of acting, the music or the choreography, or the artistic solution. After a heavy, psychological drama ("Pirosmani"), it became necessary for the director to make a light musical comedy. Of course, this work seems to be influenced by popular musicals in different directions, but for Giorgi Shengelaya it did not create any inconvenience, on the contrary, he could not escape such influences and did not try. The aim of the director was to put Georgian themes in the framework of the genre and to find ways of its cinematic depiction, which, in the end, turned out to be magnificent.

The film, despite some remarks, was highly praised both in Georgia and in other republics of the Soviet Union. It also spent some time in cinemas in some foreign countries (for example, Spain, Poland). For many filmgoers its funny story had become not only a pleasant sight, but also a "Visit Card" to introduce Georgia.

At the same time Eldar Shengelaya shot the film "The Loonies" (1973), dedicated to the first Georgian aviators who were called crazies in their time. With its thematic intent, artistically imaginative poetry, and metaphorical film language, it is a tale of the idea of freedom. It is "designed for those who, because of their sense of beauty, their spiritual purity, their boundless imagination, their high faith and their aspiration to the sublime, cannot be limited by dogmatism" ²². Impeccably conceived and played out plot, light humor, comic characters from the very beginning contributed to its commercial and critical success.

The script, written by Rezo Gabriadze, was based on parts and motifs of stories taken from the Georgian folklore. In it the author intertwined dream and reality, love and friendship, striving for freedom and tireless work for the introduction of innovation, unwavering defense of his own position and unparalleled joy caused by the result achieved. This film is another example of fruitful creative collaboration between Eldar Shengelaya and Rezo Gabriadze. In this regard Eldar noted: "Many directors write screenplays themselves, many good directors work with writers. I also prefer a relationship with a writer and I work a lot, first while writing the script, then before shooting all the episodes, all the phrases, all the nuances, but I do not co-write any of the film scripts. Directing is such a profession that he must to work with everyone, with a screenwriter, a cameraman, an art designer ... the Auteur Film does not mean that you have to be everything. The style is shaped by the director, everything boils in his head. The director should play the main role in creating the film and collaborate with everyone. If he does not have the energy to pass it on to others, he will not be able to make a film. ” ²³. This is the creative credo of Eldar Shengelaya, which he unwaveringly adheres.

Giorgi Shengelaya's next film "The Sands will Remain" (1976) describes a modern story - the construction of an irrigation canal in one of the regions of Georgia. The main character is played by the director himself. He chose such a topic especially because he was interested in how he conveyed the development of a specific production process and the relationships of the people involved in it in the film. Shengelaya's choice was probably due to the fact that the Georgians of that time rarely shot films with similar themes. In some episodes, the director used documentary stylistics, but the imperfect dramatic line left a mark on the work, which was met coldly by the critics and reluctantly by the audience.

Eldar Shengelaya returned to the literary heritage of Davit Kldiashvili and decided to make screen adaptation of the short story of this writer, a classic work of Georgian prose, "Samanishvili's stepmother". It is noteworthy that in the 1920s it was made the first film based on the above-mentioned story (1926, dir. Kote Marjanishvili) and one of the authors of the screenplay was Eldar's father, Nikoloz Shengelaya.

Kldiashvili's story is tragicomic. Its action takes place in XIX century Georgia. The protagonist, a poor, hardworking noble man - Platon Samanishvili is forced to obey the request of a widowed, elderly father and find a bride for him, but tries to discover the widow, twice married and childless candidate. In this way, Platon insures himself in advance so that the future stepmother does not have a son, who will share him of the already small property of the Samanishvili family.

The director added the more dramatic colors to the Kldiashvili's story, deeply researching the psychological aspects of the characters and the origins of conflicts. The film shows the unattractive reality, characteristic types of people, colorful landscapes, Georgian customs of that time. Film's humor and melancholy cause both smiles and tears. Platon in search of a stepmother is full of surprises, and any spectator will sympathize with this polite but helpless hero. Naturally, Eldar Shengelaya had to remake the separate parts or details of the literary source, which inevitably the cinematic process requires, although this did not damage the main line of the plot.

The premiere screening of the filled with human warmth and shot by delicate taste film "Samanishvili's Stepmother" took place in the summer of 1977 in the native village of Davit Kldiashvili. It was attended by a large audience. The film later toured the movie theaters of many countries and gained popularity.

Giorgi Shengelaya, a fancier of experiments, tried to co-directing and together with Mikheil (Misha) Chiaureli shot the musical film comedy "Everyone Wants Love" (1980). The film tells the story of the residents of one of the villages of Eastern Georgia, how their monotonous daily life is changed after appearance of a young, beautiful tailor girl. This is accompanied by the emergence of love between both the younger and the older generation's representatives and hence unusual comic situations. The general audience received the film warmly, even though it has significant shortcomings from a critical point of view.

The films of Nikoloz Shengelaya - "Eliso" and "26 Commissars" were often shown at various film festivals or other events. In 1981, one of the Japanese organizations planned to demonstrate them and invited the Shengelaya brothers to Tokyo. The amazement of the Georgians had no bounds when the famous film director Akira Kurosawa came to the movie theater to watch these films. After the screening, he got acquainted with the brothers, praised their father's works, apologized for not hearing anything about Georgia and shot a memorable photo with them.

Eldar Shengelaya has been thinking for a long time about the next film project. He considered several options, but none came to mind. Finally, he liked Revaz (Rezo) Cheishvili's one short story and, together with the same writer, started reworking it into a screenplay. This is how one of the best films of Georgian cinema appeared on the screen - "The Blue Mountains or the Unbelievable Story" (1984), the action of which is played in one space, in one creative institution (publishing house), in four different periods of the year. Eldar Shengelaya, through the language of parables and the method of critical realism, exposed the bureaucracy, service indifference, laziness, inertia, flattery that reigns in this state organization and thus pointed out that unfortunately such an "ailment" is, of course, an integral part of society and healing out of it is both imminent and necessary.

"The authors of the film used repetition as a parabolic exaggeration. The screen shows four times of the year, the same "idle" activities of the employees of the institution, the same text, the same mise en scene are repeated in all four times. Each time is preceded by the same musical theme and a panorama of the city taken from the same point. The repetitive sound-visual material is so clearly manifested as the phenomenon of boredom that at some point it even dominates the audience hall. Eldar Shengelaya was able to make the screen and the audience into "one soul" with the montage of the artistic way of repetition" ²⁴. The plot is loaded with comic situations on the outside but with very serious problems on the inside even goes to the absurd. With grotesque faces and a final episode, the film responds to Federico Fellini's acclaimed film "Orchestra Rehearsal".

In the 80s, Giorgi Shengelaya made two films that tell the historical events of the beginning of the XX century in Georgia. In the first of them - "The Journey of a Young Composer" (1984), the director explores the problems of betrayal and conformism during a period of terror, when a traveling person on a completely different mission is faced with a completely different reality. The second film - "Khareba and Gogia" (1987), is based on the true facts about a group of young men opposed to the governmental rules in eastern Georgia, hiding in the woods and was dangerous for the government officials, the wealthy nobility, and deserved a respect of the common people. These persons became folk heroes on whom songs and poems were sung. Giorgi Shengelaya used the specifics of Western again, and the main characters were played by non-professional actors, but professional athletes, world champions - Omar Pkhakadze (cycling) and Levan Tediashvili (freestyle wrestling). The daring experiment justified in this case as well.

In the 70-80s the Shengelaya brothers were the lecturers at the Film Faculty of the Georgian Theatrical Institute (Georgian Film School). They raised generations of talented film directors, whose representatives are called "The Generation of Eighties" in the history of Georgian cinema. In addition, Eldar Shengelaya was elected on the post of the chairman of the Georgian Filmmakers' Union in 1976. He held this post for more than three decades. During this time, the organization did many good activities for the popularization of Georgian film. In the second half of the 80's, the Shengelaya brothers became involved in politics.

In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed. Georgia became an independent state. Gaining independence was accompanied by aggravation in various areas, financial crisis, civil strife and hostilities in the two regions of the country. Separate political, socio-economic problems have also left a noticeable mark on the future development of national cinema. A difficult transition period has begun.

In 1990-2000, Eldar Shengelaya was a member of the Georgian Parliament of several convocations. He was one of the main initiators of the establishment of the National Film Center. This organization with the financial support of the state should be responsible for regulating the film production process, establishing guarantees for freedom and independence of creative activity, protection of copyright, etc. At the end of the decade (since 2000), the National Film Center started functioning.

In 1993, Eldar Shengelaya shot the satirical-grotesque comedy "Express-Information" in which he showed the anxious troubles of modernity, and fixed a number of necessary problems of everyday life. In doing so, he expressed his sincere sorrow over the current events in the country and called the society to wake up.

Giorgi Shengelaya continued to work in various popular film genres and added new samples to his list of works. His next film was the crime drama "Death of Orpheus" (1996), in which the Georgian, modernized version of the famous legend of Orpheus and Eurydice was presented. Then, Giorgi shot two more experimental works - the erotic melodrama "Love in the Vineyard" (2000) and the ironic comedy "The Train was Going" (2005). All three of them have caused heated debate both in the local audience and in film criticism, however, it should be noted that each has its advantages and disadvantages.

A time has passed. After a long pause Eldar Shengelaya returned to his favorite job in 2013, when he started working on the film "The Caucasian Trio". It tells the story of friendship between people of three different nationalities, about the problem they faced, and all three are actively involved in solving it. This film was made in 2015 and released in 2016. At the same time, Eldar filmed his second work, the satirical tragicomedy "The Arm-Chair" (2017), which describes the absurd adventure of an official person who is fallen in love to his official position (and an arm-chair). Currently, Eldar Shengelaya, despite his solid age, works on the short films.

Unfortunately, Giorgi Shengelaya, due to lack of funding, was unable to shot some interesting ideas, including a film adaptation of Lev Tolstoy's novel "Hadji-Murat". Instead, he made several interesting television projects dedicated to "Hadji-Murat" and prominent Georgian public figures. Giorgi Shengelaya died in 2020, at the age of 82.

The films of the Shengelaya brothers have been awarded many international prizes at film festivals around the world. Among them are the main prize at the Chicago International Film Festival, which went to "Pirosmani" and the "Silver Bear" of the Berlin International Film Festival, which was awarded to Giorgi Shengelaya as the director of "The Journey of a Young Composer". Eldar and Giorgi were invited to numerous film festivals as participants, honorary guests or members of the jury. In different years, their creative meetings were held in different cities (both in Georgia and abroad) and so on.

"The whole work of the members of the Shengelaya cinematic family is a real proof that cinema has the ability to form the essential signs of time and the artist's worldview. Like their worthy parents, the Shengelaya brothers firmly decided to pursue cinema throughout their lives and made films in which the versatility of human talent sounded with magical charm. ” ²⁵. Nikoloz Shengelaya, Nato Vachnadze and their sons - Eldar and Giorgi by their best works widely glorified an authority of Georgian film. 

 

 

 

Notes:

 

 

¹   Magazine “Chiraghdani”, 1924, #2, p. 23 (in Georgian).

²   Tsereteli Kora. The Famous Faces. Tbilisi: Khelovneba, 1986, p. 5 (in Georgian).

³   Vachnadze Nato. Memoirs and Meetings. Sokhumi: Afkhazetis Sakhelgami, 1953, p. 47 (in Georgian).

⁴   Dolidze Giorgi. Georgian Film Yesterday and Today. The Cinematic Search. Tbilisi: Khelovneba, 1985, p. 107 (in Georgian).

⁵   Vachnadze Nato. Memoirs and Meetings, p. 38.

⁶   Newspaper “Drouli”, 1926, #3, p. 4 (in Georgian).

⁷   Gogodze Karlo. Essays from the History of Georgian Film. Tbilisi: Khelovneba, 1950, p. 68 (in Georgian).

⁸   Collection “Nato Vachnadze”. Tbilisi: Georgian Cinema, 1926 (in Georgian).

⁹   Ratiani Irina. Georgian Silent Cinema. Tbilisi: Khelovneba, 1976, p. 42 (in Georgian).

¹⁰   Bakradze Akaki. The Discussions. Tbilisi: Khelovneba, 1972, p. 77 (in Georgian).

¹¹   Tsereteli Kora. Nikolai Shengelaya. Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1968, p. 5 (in Russian).

¹²   Magazine “Sovetski Ekran”, 1983, #19, p. 2 (in Russian).

¹³   Newspaper “Literaturnaya Gazeta”, 1933, 23 December, p. 2 (in Russian).

¹⁴   Tabukashvili Olga. Nikoloz Shengelaya. Tbilisi: Khelovneba, 1974, p. 156 (in Georgian).

¹⁵   Levanidze Maya. Nikoloz Shengelaya, in collection: “The Georgian Filmmakers”, part II, Tbilisi: Theatre and Film University Press, 2007, p. 40 (in Georgian).

¹⁶   Shengelaya Eldar. ...Let Me Say Some Words! Tbilisi: National Film Center, 2013, p. 64 (in Georgian).

¹⁷   Jalaghania Roland. The Unbound Circle. Tbilisi: Khelovneba, 1987, p. 169 (in Georgian).

¹⁸   Sepiashvili Otar. Screen and Time. Tbilisi: Khelovneba, 1969, p. 29 (in Georgian).

¹⁹  Amashoukeli Nugzar. Giorgi Shengelaya. A Creative Portrait. Moscow: Soyuzinformkino, 1987, p. 9 (in Russian).

²⁰  Dolidze Nana. Creative work of Eldar Shengelaya, in collection: “The Georgian Filmmakers”, part I, Tbilisi: Theatre and Film University Press, 2005, p. 118 (in Georgian).

²¹   Tikanadze Rusudan. Georgian Film... Problems, Search. Tbilisi: Khelovneba, 1978, p. 326 (in Georgian).

²²   Baramidze Givi. Poetry of Scene and Screen. Tbilisi: Khelovneba, 1976, p. 56 (in Georgian).

²³   Shengelaya Eldar. ...Let Me Say Some Words! p. 88.

²⁴   Amirejibi Natia. From Cinematograph to Film Art. Tbilisi: Ganatleba, 1990, p. 197-198 (in Georgian).

²⁵   Jalaghania Roland. The Unbound Circle, p. 208.