Discovering Georgian Cinema
Co-presented with the National Gallery of Art
February 7–April 14
FREE SCREENINGS!
Surveying a century of filmmaking from this distinctive national cinema and cultural milieu with roots in antiquity, Discovering Georgian Cinema provides a unique opportunity to see remarkable films rarely shown in North America. From satire to meditation on landscape, there is a wide range of styles and subjects, and it is normal for several generations of filmmakers to exist within a single Georgian family tree.
Film prints are from international archival collections. Curators for the retrospective are Susan Oxtoby (Pacific Film Archive) and Jytte Jensen (Museum of Modern Art), with special thanks to the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the National Gallery of Art, the Embassy of Georgia and the Georgian National Film Center.
The extensive series is presented by the National Gallery of Art at multiple locations in the Washington, DC, area. Read more about the complete series at NGA.gov/film.
AFI Member passes accepted at all screenings in the series.
THE DAY IS LONGER THAN THE NIGHT
[Dges game utenebia]
Q&A with filmmaker Lana Gogoberidze
Post-screening wine tasting sponsored by the Embassy
of Georgia
Known for its beautiful location shooting, portrayals of traditions and appealing performances, this film follows the life of Eva from the turn of the century through many important milestones, both personal and historic, each one linked to the next by a troupe of actors and musicians who offer their own counterpoint. Part of one of the important filmmaking families of Georgia, Lana Gogoberidze’s mother (Nutsa Gogoberidze) was the country’s first female director, while her daughter is producer/director Salomé Alexi (her film FELICITÀ is also shown in this series).
DIR/SCR/PROD Lana Gogoberidze; SCR Zaira Arsenishvili. USSR/Georgia, 1984, color, 138 min, 35mm. In Georgian with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Admission is FREE!
Tickets will be available on the day of the show on a first-come, first-served basis; limit four per person. The box office opens 30 min before the first film of the day.
*Ticket does not guarantee admission* Please plan to arrive early and be in your seat 15 min prior to showtime, as empty seats will be opened up to standby patrons at that time.
Sat, Feb 7, 4:00
SOME INTERVIEWS ON PERSONAL MATTERS
[Ramdenime interviu pirad sakitkhebze]
Q&A with filmmaker Lana Gogoberidze
Young newspaper staffer Sofiko Chiaureli is passionately involved in her work — interviewing people who have sent letters of complaint to the editor. One of the women she converses with is her mother, and the pair’s onscreen relationship evokes the tragic early life of the filmmaker and her own mother, making this a very personal project. Combining documentary technique and psychological drama, this becomes a powerful testament about women, work, family and marriage, earning international acclaim as the first feminist film of Soviet cinema, as well as the first to overtly mention Stalin’s camps.
DIR/SCR/PROD Lana Gogoberidze; SCR Erlom Akhvlediani, Zaira Akhvlediani. USSR/Georgia, 1977, color, 95 min, 35mm. In Georgian with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Admission is FREE!
Tickets will be available on the day of the show on a first-come, first-served basis; limit four per person. The box office opens 30 min before the first film of the day.
*Ticket does not guarantee admission* Please plan to arrive early and be in your seat 15 min prior to showtime, as empty seats will be opened up to standby patrons at that time.
Sun, Feb 8, 3:00
THE PIPELINE NEXT DOOR
[Un dragon dans les eaux pures du Caucase]
Q&A with filmmaker Nino Kirtadze
“David faces Goliath when a village of Georgian farmers takes on the BP oil corporation in this evenhanded, character-driven documentary. Kirtadze’s verité approach captures the negotiations, breakdowns, heartbreak and anger surrounding BP’s purchase of Georgian countryside to construct a 1,700-kilometer pipeline from Kazakhstan to the Black Sea. The villagers try for solidarity but find envy and mistrust as their way of life is crudely upended, and the BP spokespeople are caught in the unending march toward a supposedly ever-brighter future.” –Museum of Modern Art.
DIR/SCR Nino Kirtadze; PROD Dominique Tibi. France, 2005, color, 90 min, Digibeta. In English, Georgian and Russian with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Admission is FREE!
Tickets will be available on the day of the show on a first-come, first-served basis; limit four per person. The box office opens 30 min before the first film of the day.
*Ticket does not guarantee admission* Please plan to arrive early and be in your seat 15 min prior to showtime, as empty seats will be opened up to standby patrons at that time.
Mon, Apr 13, 7:00
DON'T BREATHE [La faille]
Q&A with filmmaker Nino Kirtadze
This film's darkly comic scenario delves into the anxieties of middle-age health and wellness issues. Forty-something Levan receives a vague prognosis following a routine medical exam. Advice pours in from all corners — his partner Irma, his doctor, friends, strangers — but each opinion contradicts the other, and instead of helping Levan, he instead develops severe hypochondria. A documentary/fiction hybrid, with Levan and Irma acting out a drama drawn from their life, developed with the filmmaker over a year's time. Kirtadze cites Chaplin: "Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot."
DIR/SCR Nino Kirtadze; PROD Heidi Fleischer, Céline Nusse, Paul Rozenberg. France, 2014, color, 86 min, DCP. In English and Georgian with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Admission is FREE!
Tickets will be available on the day of the show on a first-come, first-served basis; limit four per person. The box office opens 30 min before the first film of the day.
*Ticket does not guarantee admission* Please plan to arrive early and be in your seat 15 min prior to showtime, as empty seats will be opened up to standby patrons at that time.
Tue, Apr 14, 7:00