Manana Lekborashvili. Georgian Documentary Cinema
The news of the birth of cinematography reached Georgia quite soon, moreover, already on November 16, 1896, the newspaper "Tsnobis Purtseli" reported that "Cinematography- Lumier's live photographic images, famous throughout Europe, will be shown in the Noble Theater." Such shows soon became popular. As everywhere in the world, documentary stories might have been a significant part of such seances in Georgia. Originally, these were spectacular films introduced by foreign companies ("Cines," "Ambrosio," “Pathé,” "Gaumont "), which introduced foreign landscapes and events to the viewers. There is information that these firms also filmed stories locally, although they have not survived and can only be judged by the information in the press.
Neither have survived most of the stories about the life of Georgian and Transcaucasian society (1908-1910) shot by the national documentary film pioneers Vasil Amashukeli and Alexandre Digmelov (Digmelashvili), which they filmed to enrich the repertoire of the newly opened stationary cinemas.
The press has preserved the titles and themes of Amashukeli's short films. In Baku were filmed "People Walking on the Seashore," "Working on Oil Wells", "Swimming Competition", "Gunib Regiment Parade with the Participation of the Captain Simon Esadze," “Types of Market Places in Baku,” "Coal Transportation on Camel Back," Ship Unloading,” "Oil Pumping;" a little later in Georgia were filmed "Working on a Farm," "Excursion to the Ruins of Bagrati Cathedral," "Chamomile Festival,” "Khoni Silk Dyeing Factory", "Kutaisi Landscapes" and others.
Alexandre Digmelov describes his films in his memoirs: "The Catholicos' Funeral in Etchmiadzi ,” “Fresh and Melted Butter Factory and Chicken Farm in Bakuriani," "The Catholicos' Blessing," "The Royal Celebration in Mtskheta," "The Caucasus Viceregent’s Horse Breeding Factory” and so on. The State Archives preserves Digmelov's " Boars and Deer Hunting" filmed in 1912, which depicts the great prince’s hunting in the Karayaz forests. The film is characterized by a cohesive story, a variety of scenes and the inventiveness of the cameraman.
The documentary film "Akaki Tsereteli's Journey to Racha-Lechkhumi" made in 1912 by Vasil Amashukeli remains a remarkable and proud fact in the history of Georgian documentary cinema. The main theme of the film is the meeting of the People's Poet Akaki Tsereteli with the population of these parts of Georgia. The greatest joy and love expressed by them towards the poet and poetry in general, reflects the solemn mood that reigned in these meetings. Initially, Amashukeli shot chronicle stories according to established standards: 10-20-meter shots are separated from each other by informative interceptors, but gradually the material becomes more free, creative searches appear - more expressive shooting points, as well as a personal attitude towards filming arises. "Akaki's Journey" is distinguished not only for the history of Georgian documentary cinema. The personal archive of the Georgian film historian Karlo Gogodze contains a letter from a famous French film historian, Georges Sadoul, which states: “As far as I know, not a single full-length documentary film (1200 meters) was dedicated to any famous person in any country until 1912. I do not think there is a three-part or multi-part film about Anatole France, Henri Barbusse or Romain Rolland."
From the 1200 meters taken by Vasil Amashukeli, a two-part copy is preserved in the National Archives of Georgia (first part-304 m, second part-246 m).
One of the prominent figures of Georgian cinema before the revolution is Colonel Simon Esadze, who can be considered the founder of the Georgian military chronicle. In 1915, he received permission from the military leadership to film in the area of hostilities in the Caucasus. He and his group made film chronicles: "The Fall of Arzrum", "The Fall of Trabzon", "Conquered Turkish Towns" and others, which aroused great interest in the audience.
It is interesting that even at this early stage in the development of cinema, there were public figures in Georgia (writer and theater figure Shalva Dadiani, editor of the magazine "Theater and Life" Ioseb Imedashvili), who saw well the possibilities of cinema and clearly defined its perspectives, including documentary film, which played an important role in capturing the natural wealth of Georgia, still preserved traditions and customs; and a little later, after Georgia gained its independence as well as in the years of independence (1918-1921), Germane Gogitidze, the founder of the first national film company in Georgia, created and published the National Cinema Development Program (1918), where the 6th and 7th paragraphs had already been distinguished popular-scientific and documentary films as independent types of cinema. In 1920, his "Tsekavshiri" (Georgian Cooperative Central Union) merged with the Belgian Commissar Pirone's film company and became the "United State Studios", which made only chronicle and documentary films for the first three years (including "Earthquake in Gori," "Transfering Batumi to Georgia," "Journey of the Delegation of European Socialists to Georgia," etc.).
Unfortunately, only a very small part of the pre-Soviet documentaries are preserved, although even this small part shows the progress that documentary filmmaking made over the past period: the length of the shot increased, the selected shooting points became more diverse, not only the medium, but also the medium and close-up shots were used.
After sovietization in 1921, all private film production and rental firms were nationalized within three months and the "Film Section" at the People's Commissariat of Education was established. It became the center of creative and industrial development of Georgian Soviet cinema. In 1923, the "Film Section" was transformed into the State Film Industry Joint Stock Company ("Sakhkinmretsvi"). Both film organizations were headed by Germane Gogitidze. According to the memoirs of a director Amo Bek-Nazarov, the first and, consequently, the first Soviet documentary of the "Film Section" is "Children's Trip to Kojori." There is preserved a historically important document of this period - "Celebration of the Three-Year Anniversary of the 11th Caucasus Army in Tbilisi," which was held seven months after the sovietization of Georgia and preserved the Georgian revolutionaries, the images of the leaders of the new Soviet state.
The films of the first years of the Soviet Union (1921-1931) can be mainly divided into several categories:
- compilation films: Mikheil Kalatozishvili and Nutsa Ghoghoberidze's "Their Kingdom" (1928) and Siko Dolidze's "October 12" (1929).
- films depicting the process of building a new state: "Zahesi" (1927), "Construction of Natakhtari Water Pipeline" (1929), "Poem on Shirak" (1931), "The Cry of the Land" (1929) and others.
- cultural films and agitfilms: "Pig-farming," "Stockbreeding," "Malaria," "Universal Education," "Physical Education at School" and others.
- Views and resorts of Georgia: "Abastumani," "Tskaltubo-Akhtala," "Forests of Abkhazia," etc.
It is noteworthy that in the late 1920s, interest in documentary material became more active in Soviet art. The most influential proletarian group, “The Left Front of Art,” fought for the establishment of fact in art. This struggle had a significant impact on Georgian cinema as well. “The Left Front of Georgian Film Workers" was established in Georgia. In 1928, a chronicle sector was established at the film studio, headed by Siko Dolidze, a member of “the Left Front.”
Interest in documentaries grew, examples of the use of documentaries and chronicles became more frequent in feature films. Mikheil Kalatozishvili's masterpiece "Salt to Svaneti!" (in Svan "Jim Schwante!") was born as a result of the combination of artistic and documentary material.
The history of making this film is interesting: in 1929, M. Kalatozishvili made the feature film "Blind" in Svaneti, but the film was severely criticized for "formalism" and was not released on screens. The film was lost, but the director was left with unused editing pieces, as well as a two-part documentary film shot in parallel-with views of Svaneti nature. It was with the editting of this material, with the synthesis of artistic and documentary material, that a whole new concept film was created, which reflected the hard daily struggle of the mountain people against the harsh nature. In the final part, the intonation of the film changes. It becomes optimistic over time-the road is cut in Svaneti, ending the blockade and hardship of the Svans. The film was attributed to ethnographic- cultural film. The film has preserved a really rich ethnographic material, but its significance is much broader. The film is shot with an emotional, expressive camera; The composition of the shots, the angles, the lighting and the thoughtful use of light and shadows (the artist of the film is the famous Georgian artist Davit Kakabadze), the rhythmic montage is still admirable and makes "Jim Schwante!" one of the best examples of the Soviet avant-garde of the 1920s.
The 1930s are known in the history of the Soviet Union as the years of collectivization. The process of industrialization was also going on intensively. Against this background, the documentary cinema clearly defined its purpose: to record with maximum completeness the ongoing transformation processes in the country. Documentarians Shalva Chagunava, Shalva Khomeriki, Irakli Kandelaki, Vladimer Valishvili, Alexandre Semyonov, Felix Vysotsky, Nikoloz Nagorny, Boris Kreps, Alexander Adjibegashvili and others were able to bring the country to life with their camera.
Unfortunately, at that time there was no archive in Georgia with the necessary conditions for storing the film. Many films were kept with their authors, scattered in families, lost or made useless over time. It was only in 1944 that the Central Archive of Film and Photo Records was established and started operating in 1946. However, a certain number of stories and films have survived, which allow us to have an idea of the life of the Soviet society of this period and, consequently, of the development and priorities of documentary film.
During this period, a scientific-popular film acquires a form and develops. Its first clearly defined example is "Silos" (1934. dir. D. Abashidze). The genres of documentary films were becoming more diverse. Creative portraits of famous figures of the past or present of the country are added to the already existing categories: "Ilia Chavchavadze," "Shalva Dadiani," "Portrait of the famous Georgian artist Mose Toidze," "MP N. Muskhelishvili" (the spirit of the time is well expressed while Niko Muskhelishvili was the founder of the Georgian Scientific School of Mathematics and Mechanics), as well as ordinary Soviet people: "Stakhanovaite Kiknadze", "Doctor Nadia Kadagidze" and others. The chronicle of official events ("Elections of the Supreme Council," "The First Session of the Supreme Council of the Georgian SSR," "Celebration of the XXI Anniversary of October in Tbilisi," etc., occupies an honorable place, especially since the second half of the 1930s).
An important part of film documentation of this period had one part, it was on the cinemas in the form of a film magazine ("Soviet Georgia" series) before the main feature film, and informing the Soviet citizen was more important than creative research. With the outbreak of World War II (1941), a new purpose was added to documentary filmmaking: not only to provide operative information to the public on the state of the front, but also to be a moral supporter of the army or the backbone, strengthening the belief in victory. Film magazines were of special importance during this period. Military film crews were being set up in the army divisions, in which Georgian directors and cameramen were actively involved. During the war years, 126 film magazines, 43 special stories and 9 special editions were created by chronicle-documentarians.
At the same time, larger-scale documentaries were being created, in which generalization, atmosphere, symbolic and metaphorical shots appeared along with depicting facts. Among them we can name: "In the Footsteps of the Fascist Beast" (Sh. Chagunava, Cameraman A. Semiomov, 1943), "The End of Hitler's Adventure in the Caucasus" (I. Kandelaki, 1943. Cameraman L. Arzumanov, G. Asatiani, O. Dekanosidze), "General Chanchibadze's Guards Army in the Last Battles of the Patriotic War" (dir. and Cameraman Giorgi Asatani, 1943).
During the war years, the second, relatively less active direction of Georgian documentary film was the description of life in the rear. Films and stories "Front Spring in Georgia" (dir. V. Valishvili, Cameraman N. Nagorn, A. Semyonov, O. Dekanosidze, 1942), "Gifts to the Front" (dir. I. Kandelaki, 1942), "Patriot Fishermen" (Dir. V. Valishvili, 1943) and others which were dedicated to the daily work of Georgian workers during the difficult years of the war.
After years of war imbued with patriotic spirit and enthusiasm, the era of the country's economic recovery came. As one of the "driving forces" to get out of a difficult financial situation, the government of the country chose the principle of "beautifying" life. No criticism, only universal happiness, steady growth of material prosperity, and a grateful population. Even against the background of the generally negative attitude of Soviet ideology towards the critique of Soviet life, this period was marked by particular sterility. If in previous years it was still possible to appeal to the remnants of the past, after so many years the object of criticism was in fact "no more." This applied equally to feature and documentary films. A strict thematic plan ran from the top, standard quality protection was preferable;
Creativity, thinking through artistic images was not encouraged. It was more characteristic of this period to strengthen the role of the chronicle, though here too, only the positive, the cheerful, the solemn was emphasized; the severity of the post-war years usually remained behind the scenes. Of course, there were interesting films about sports, art, nature of Georgia, but they were more the exception than the rule.
After Stalin's death in 1953 and the 20th Congress of the Communist Party in 1956, the so-called era of "Thaw" (“Ottepel”) started easing ideological, political and, consequently, creative pressure. This had a positive impact on both feature and documentary films. Documentary film genre diversity returned, creative research resumed, and authorial cinema started to take its shape.
In 1958, an independent studio of science- popular and documentary films was established. The old guard was supported by a new generation, including young directors who were the graduates of the Moscow All-Union State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK), who would soon become important authors of Georgian feature films and create an era in Georgian cinema: Lana Ghoghoberidze ("Gelati," "Tbilisi is 1500 years old," 1958), Giorgi Shengelaia ("Niko Pirosmanashvili," 1960), Otar Ioseliani ("Sapovnela," 1959; "Cast Iron," 1964) and others. Young directors tried to evade prevailing standards and seek out personal, subjective intonations. For example, in Lana Ghoghoberidze's film "Tbilisi is 1500 Years Old" instead of the traditional jubilee film with views of historical monuments and districts of the city, the author chooses "Eternally Murmuring River - Mtkvari" as a "narrator". She connects years and events through it, uses animation, modernizes reconstruction methods and a story that brings the narrative to life and makes the distant past near.
Otar Ioseliani's two-part film "Sapovnela" formally is about a known gardener and his garden, but the director gave it a much wider sound. He makes a silent film - only city noises and carefully selected music, different for each flower, confronted by the noise of cars. The tractor goes over flowers, the asphalt is rolled on top, the song is stopped, but the flower reappears in the crack of the asphalt, the sound of a song is heard again, followed by other, surviving flowers. Eventually, however, the studio's management added a text to it - to avoid censorship complications: the wordless documentary looked weird.
Otar Ioseliani built the next documentary "Cast Iron" on the same principle. It is wordless too, just expressive shots, real noises and skillful use of editing capabilities tell the story of steel-founder’s hard, day-to-day work, which was far from the standard of enthusiasm and admiration for this category of films.
Gia Chubabria, a graduate of the Camera Department at Moscow Institute of Cinematography, came to documentary filmmaking, who first made us remember himself as a cameraman of Vakhtang Mikeladze’s acute publicistic film “Omalo” and later as a cameraman and director, he made the film "White Torghvai" (1969) about Tusheti again. If "Omalo" posed a serious problem of deserting mountain villages, in "White Torghvai" the director with Tush shepherds went through a difficult path from winter pastures to summer stalls and would write about the daily life of these people, labor process, customs. Regardless of the specific place and time of action, the film is not a report, nor an informative or ethnographic film, but a synthesis of them. The author rejected the dictatorial text, choosing only natural sounds and music. A thoughtful selection of key and dramatic moments, exquisite compositions of the frame, effective use of black-and-white gamma's simplicity created a generalized image of people in love with their work and was an excellent example of a poetic authorial film.
Gia Chubabria continued to work fruitfully in documentary film. His films include ones made abroad: “Saarbrücken Chronicles” (1974), “Japanese Sketches” (1974), “Georgians in the Netherlands” (two full-length films based on Rezo Tabukashvili’s script, 1976-1979), “Georgian Cross Monastery in Jerusalem (1989) and so on. These films are mainly of a reportage nature and are created to capture a specific event, activity, but G. Chubabria always manages to expand the framework of the film and offer his own authorial vision. The best example of this is the one-part scientific-popular film "The Fate of Salmon" (Rezo Tabukashvili’s screenplay, 1979), in which the theme of the fish life cycle clearly shows the theme of love for the homeland.
Guram Zhvania, who was the leading director of the documentary and science-popular film studio since 1970, worked in an interesting way. Particular attention deserve his popular science-popular films: "Silk" (1972), "Cow, TV and Turkey" (1973) and others, where the author introduces elements and intonations of humor and drama that are quite rare for this type of film, which turns a standard educational film into the samples of creative documentary.
In the 1960s, another documentary film center was established - in 1968, a TV film studio was established at Georgian Television, which works on both feature and documentary films.
Following in the footsteps of the development of technical equipment, Georgian Television partially incorporated the function of documentary film. News programs, such genres of television journalism as reportage, TV magazine, essay - replaced chronicles and film magazines; educational programs replaced science-popular films. But there was another side to the process - documentary cinema was removed the burden of just capturing the moment and the lightning-fast response to the moment, and the focus shifted to creative documentation.
The TV film studio created films in a shot period of time which, along with capturing a specific epoch, years, events, were distinguished by an artistic generalization in terms of interesting vision: Gela Kandelaki and Leri Sikharulidze's "Football Without Ball" (1969), Zurab Inashvili's "Tale Begins," Kandelaki's "Imereti" (1979), Gogi Levashov-Tumanishvili’s "Premiere" (1979), Omar Gvasalia's films in the genre of film-interview on the problems of raising adolescents "One Day at University" (1968), "Dialogues" (1976), "70 Questions" (1980) etc.
These films often had to go through quite a difficult path to reach the screen, requiring difficult negotiations, concessions, the involvement of influential culture or party workers. This was the case first with O. Ioseliani's "Sapovnela" and "Cast Iron", then with O. Gvasalia's "Fresco" (1969), S. Chkhaidze’s "Old Georgian Hymns" (1972). Instead, the documentary series "Half a Century Film Chronicle ", which was dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the Soviet Union of Georgia in 1969-1971, had all the support. However, despite its propaganda purpose and political order, the film preserved the unique cultural and public life of Georgia during this period, as well as its sequels: 15 films were made annually from 1971 to 1988 reflecting the annual achievements of Soviet Georgia. Films with a political or similar spirit were made regularly until the late 1980s, but the creative "climate" was still made by other films.
The work of Guram Pataraia should be mentioned separately. He was one of the first Georgian film documentarians to take an interest in Georgian cultural monuments outside Georgia and to popularize them with his films. He made films on this topic: "In the Footsteps of Rustaveli" (1967); "Mysteries of Palestine Antiquities" (1968), "Far to Gurgistan" (1970) about the Georgians living in Iran.
While Guram Pataraia looked for and captured cultural centers abroad, a screenwriter, playwright, director Revaz Tabukashvili drew attention to emigrated Georgians living and working abroad, even though such activities were not always encouraged by the government officials. The crew had to go abroad as tourists, although the films were officially made under the auspices of the documentary film studio.
R. Tabukashvili dedicated several cycles of documentaries to the search for traces of Georgian emigration: "Trace of Light" (About Mikheil Tamarashvili, a Doctor of Theology, Scientist working in Italy, 1978), "Alpine Star" (the film is dedicated to the memory of the Georgian partisan fighting for the liberation of Italy, Pore Mosulishvili, 1979), "Papers from the French Diary" (1983), "In the Footsteps of Loot" (1986), "Far Proximity" (1987), etc.
Along with the hitherto obscured and banned names of Georgian emigration, Rezo Tabukashvili took back to his homeland precious manuscripts, archival documents or photographs scattered in various bookstores or personal archives around the world. That was why his films went beyond the cinematic fact, became an important public event and remain so today.
The five-series documentary film "Road" (1984) created by Merab Kokochashvili became an important cinematic and public event, which is an excellent example of the artistic generalization of the documentary material. The film was officially dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the friendship agreement with Russia, the so-called Giorgievski treatise. but in reality it was a film chronicler which traced the history of Georgia from ancient times to the 18th century, involving relevant specialists, documents, museum exhibits in the course of the film, as the director himself. "It was not a description of the past, but an artistic understanding of the nation's history from a modern perspective"
1986 marked the beginning of a new stage in the history of the Soviet Union and, consequently, of the Republic of Georgia and of documentary film. Mikheil Gorbachev's "Transformation" (“Perestroika”) policy eventually led to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, but before that there was the April 9, 1989 raid on Tbilisi, an open support for Ossetian and Abkhaz separatism from the center, and a sharp escalation of the situation in those regions.
It all started with hopeful democratic transformations coming from the center. This primarily concerned freedom of speech and media activities in the Soviet space. Meanwhile, the aspiration for democratization closely intertwined with the struggle for national independence in Georgia.
The TV movie studio responded to the current events in the country as much as possible and the leading role here, naturally, was occupied by documentary films. Among them should be distinguished the films dedicated to the spiritual values of the past and cultural monuments: dir. Carlo Glonti's "Petritsoni" (1986) and "Mount Sinai" (1990), "Several Pictures from the Life of Ilia" (1986, directed by Omar Gvasalia), the history of the Georgian Church in two films (directed by Jumber Ebralidze, 1991), and others. And the other direction - the reflection and analysis of the acute events of modernity: T. Palavandishvili's "Nowhere and Never" (1990) in three films, based on the April 1989 chronicle of the tragic events in Tbilisi, "Chronicles of Georgia" (screenplay and direction by M. Borashvili and M. Basinov, 1991) - about the latest political events in Georgia and so on.
In the economic and politically unstable 1990s, in the conditions of extreme polarization and radical confrontation of the society - including the civil war and the conflict in Abkhazia - the television was more or less successful in covering the current events, but the existence of a well-thought-out documentary became impossible, it became dependent on personal initiatives and financial capabilities. In the face of a severe lack of funding, the production of documentaries shifted to videotaping instead of film. "Telefilms" stopped production in 2000, and in 2004 it was abolished altogether. Even earlier, the documentary film studio was virtually closed.
It may seem paradoxical, but at the same time documentary filmmaking started reviving, especially creative documentary. There appeared small studios trying to raise funds independently in various foundations, in competitions of the newly established National Film Center, looking for ways of co-production. Not only did these films explore and analyze a particular character, event, fact, but also achieve the degree of generalization when this particular character or story took the viewer into another dimension and made him think of more global, universal and possibly unresolved problems. They "cought" the iconic faces in reality and turned a specific fact, character or the film as a multifaceted symbol. These films can belong to a completely various genres and category of documentary film. The main thing here is one - the author's attitude towards the object of filming.
The documentary "Onion Tears", shot in 2003, has a completely specific character; in its time the film was one of the first heralds of Georgian documentary cinema revival. The film was shot by an amateur video camera and Levan Glonti was not only the director, but also the screenwriter, cameraman and editor. He just followed in the footsteps of his protagonist, musician Rezo Kiknadze, who lived in Germany for a long time. The protagonist was specific, with a real name and surname, neither the author tried to create a generalized type from him, but the reality reflected on the screen itself completely forced the genius of self-realization, which made a person give up a lot, but do something vital for him. Instead of very standard for documentary "creative portrait" it turns as an authorial film with a strong emotional and intellectual charge.
Levan Koguashvili's film "Women from Georgia" (2008) also created an icon of bitter tears of emigration, only here this icon was created through a collective hero. These are women who went to earn a living in America. Their private stories became a painful chronicle of Georgia's recent history. Mindia Esadze's film "White No - Black" (2011) is a comedy and tells the story of a young man traveling to Germany to buy a car. The film depicts the signs of modernity very accurately and is really funny, but not -cheerful.
One of the main subjects of the research of the new Georgian documentary film was the province, its inhabitants, their daily life. To such types of films can be attributed: "The Last" (2009) by the famous cameraman and feature film director Alexandre Rekhviashvili (2009) - an ethnographic film; Gela Kandelaki's film "0.074% of the land:The Village”(2007)" based on the principle of "cinema verite; Film-Observation-Film-Reflection: Salome Jashi's "Bakhmaro" (2011) and "Sunset Attraction" (2016), Rati Oneli's "Sun City" (2016), Shorena Tevzadze's "Didube - The Last Stop" (2017), where the object of such observations is the outskirts of the city, now- as alien and strange as the towns of the province.
Unlike these films, "English Teacher" (dir. Nino Orjonikidze, Vano Arsenishvili, 2012) already showed the Georgian province through the eyes of a foreigner. Their protagonist is one of the hundreds of teachers who came to Georgia from all over the world to implement the "Teach and Learn" project. The film is deeply ironic, but the authors have a taste for refraining from sharp messages, and it is up to the viewer to choose who to sympathize with – students in a seeming weightlessness, their school teachers or their foreigner English teacher in a stupid situation.
An important topic in the new Georgian documentary became the war waged by Georgia, the conflicts and its consequences:
Toma Chagelishvili's film "I Did Not Cross the Border, the Border Crossed Me" (2016) tells the story of 82-year-old Data Vanishvili, whose native land was divided by the Samachablo conflict and sentenced to live beyond the occupation line…
Vakhtang Varazi's film “The IDP Ship Enguri” (2016) also tells the story of three IDPs from Abkhazia. One is the ship that saved many lives in its time, and the other two are humans: the ship's boatswain and its captain. As the years go by, no one remembers the merits of the past - neither the ship nor the people; They are no longer needed - neither the ship nor the people. Thus, one small, "simple" story reveals a great history – of the region, of 300,000 refugees, of the whole country.
Anuna Bukia, the author and the character of the documentary film "I Swam Across the Enguri" (2017) is experiencing the drama of forced borders. The war cost her her home twenty-four years ago, and despite the time that has passed, she is unable to gain spiritual peace, to live in harmony with herself.
Alexandre Kvatashidze's film "Chechnian Crossroads" (2016) also develops the theme of people affected by the war. It is a film-survey whose main research question is: "Why are you going to a war that does not concern you?"
In 2010, the “Georgian Public Broadcaster” resumed the production of documentaries on the “Basis of the Documentary Film Editorial Board “(since 2013 - Documentary Film Studio). The studio tries to diversify the themes of the films made by them, to include issues and events related to historical, social, cultural, regional, as well as contemporary issues. Interesting products are created in the studio by directors: Shalva Shengeli, Levan Akhobadze, Levan Adamia, Levan Kitia, Besik Gaprindashvili, Giorgi Molodinashvili and others. The films created by them are distinguished by an interesting vision, good knowledge of the material and genre diversity. These include narrative documentaries, with or without dramatic reconstruction, films in the live (so-called) documentary genre, and long-term observation films.
In 2013, the first international documentary film festival in the South Caucasus, CinéDOC-Tbilisi, was established with the aim of promoting documentary film. It not only offers interesting films to the audience - with a unique directorial vision, original style, interesting stories and characters, but also organizes discussions, pitching forums (Civil Pitch), workshops and industrial meetings for young directors and producers. Documentary film professionals from all over the world are invited to participate in project development sessions and presentations.
The films discussed in the article, naturally, do not fully and in detail reflect all the stages of Georgian documentary, nor do they cover the full range of steps taken by modern Georgian documentary. However, we can surely say that the interest and "confidence" in reality has generally increased in modern Georgian documentary cinema, and I think this is a sign of the soundness and potential of the film process as a whole.
ბიბლიოგრაფია:
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