Georgia's CoE chairmanship marked with Strasbourg film screenings
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Georgian cinema classics and a contemporary feature are screening in Strasbourg to mark the country's chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.
Films representing Georgia's famed Soviet-era scene, from Falling Leaves by acclaimed director Otar Iosseliani to Lana Gogoberidze's Some Interviews on Personal Matters, have been selected to be discovered by viewers of the L'Odyssée cinema theatre in the city.
The programme launched with Iosseliani's 1970 Once Upon a Time There Was a Singing Blackbird, with the filmmaker present at the venue to introduce his work to the audience on Wednesday.
Continuing on Saturday, three short works by Mikheil Kobakhidze will have their time on the big screen. The Wedding (1964) and The Umbrella (1967) present the creator's takes on romantic encounters, with The Musicians (1969) rounding the selection with a look on two musical artists and their relationship.
The White Caravan, a 1963 feature that returned to the Cannes Film Festival in 2019, 55 years after first screening to audiences of the famed event, is in schedule to be seen in Strasbourg next week.
Directed by Eldar Shengelaia, it shows harsh conditions facing shepherds in the Georgia's remote highland provinces and a dilemma faced by their offspring lured by prospects of city life.
Some Interviews on Personal Matters, regarded as one of the first feminist films of the Soviet era, will follow in the programme as a testament of the legacy of Gogoberidze, a popular director honoured with the Prometheus Prize of the 2015 Tbilisi International Film Festival for her contribution to Georgia's film scene.
In the 1978 feature the protagonist is seen interviewing women about their lives and aspirations.
Following the retrospective of Soviet classics, the Georgian programme at L'Odyssée will close with Line of Credit, an award-winning debut of filmmaker Salomé Alexi.
Winner of Best Film Award at the 2015 New Directors/New Films Festival in New York, it highlights impact of the recent global economic recession on a Georgian woman in Tbilisi. The shop owner is forced to loans to keep her business afloat during the crisis.
The selection of Georgian cinema in Strasbourg will run through March 15.
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