Returning Georgian film Heritage to homeland continues

Seven more Georgian films have been returned home to the Georgian National Film Centre from Russia’s Gosfilmofond state archives as a result of efforts from the Georgian Ministry of Culture and Sport.

In the fourth exchange, the Georgian National Film Center has received the following films:

• Arsena Jorjiashvili  directed by Ivane Perestyan (1921)
• The Castle of Surami by Ivan Perestyan (1923) 
• The Father-killer by Amo Bek-Nazarov (1923) 
• Khabarda by Mikheil Chiaureli (1937)
• Paradise Lost by Davit Rondeli (1937)
• Disaster by Gela Kandelaki (1980) 
• The Gruff by Nutsa Gogoberidze (1934)

Shot from Paradise Lost movie. (1937) Photo by Georgian National Library.

Program coordinator and head of the art department of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of Georgia Nana Dolidze, Director of The Georgian National Film Center, Zurab Magalashvil and lawyer Tinatin Chavleishvili visited Moscow to monitor the quality of work and plan future cooperation.

The meeting was held between the Georgian delegation and the Director of Gosfilmofond – Vyacheslav Tolnov. During the meeting the delegation discussed the process of returning other Georgian heritage films to Georgia in the future as soon as possible.

Georgian cinematographers first called for the return of film tapes following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 but the process did not see significant progress until 2016.  Former Minister of Culture and Monument Protection of Georgia Mikheil Giorgadze formally signed a deal with Russia's National Film Foundation General Director Nikolay Borodachev to return the films made in Georgia to their homeland in September 2016.