Georgia celebrates film icon’s 80th birthday

Georgia’s leading film director Otar Iosseliani is celebrating his 80th birthday today.  

The octogenarian has been praised by the country’s Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili as a film director of world importance. 

"His films stand out with entirely different handwriting and original style. They are acknowledged as courtesy of world cinematography,” Garibashvili said. 

"The director has held a special place in the European cinema for years. As he mentions himself, the cultural field is common between Europe and Georgia and that is why his films are understandable and acceptable to Europeans,” the Prime Minister wrote in his congratulation letter to Iosseliani. 

He wished Iosseliani good health and professional success. 

Iosseliani was born in Tbilisi in 1934 and studied at the State Conservatory and graduated in 1952 with a diploma in composition, conducting and piano. One year later he went to Moscow to study mathematics but two years later he quit and completed a film directing course at the VGIK Film School in Moscow in 1955.  

As a student, Iosseliani began working at the Gruzia film studios in Tbilisi, first as an assistant director then as an editor of documentaries. In 1958 he directed his first short film Akvarel. In 1961 he graduated from VGIK with a diploma in film direction. His first medium-length film Aprili (1961) was denied theatrical distribution so Iosseliani gave up film making and from 1963 to 1965, he worked as a sailor on a fishing boat and then at the Rustavi metallurgical factory.

He could stay away from film for long and in 1966 he directed his first feature film, Giorgobistve, which was presented at the 1968 Cannes Film Festival and won a FIPRESCI award. His next film Pastorali was successful at the 1982 Berlin Film Festival but was shelved for a few years then granted a limited distribution, so Iosseliani moved to France as he grew skeptical about getting artistic freedom in his homeland. 

His next film, Les Favoris de la Lune, was directed in France in 1984 and was distinguished with a Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival.  

After the disruption of the Soviet Union he continued to work in France. He was very successful for many years and was a member of the jury at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1986. 

More recently, his 2011 film Chantrapas was selected as the Georgian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 84th Academy Awards, but it did not make the final shortlist. 

Iosseliani is a French citizen and has permanently lived in Paris since 1982.