At the 5th London Georgian Film Festival the best new Georgian films will be screened with the directors present, as well as the 1918-1921 Independence Chronicles a unique look at documentary footage from the first Georgian republic. From perestroika there will be My English Grandfather (Robinzoniada, anu chemi ingliseli Papa 1987) and the 1983 masterpiece Blue Mountains (Tsisperi mtebi anu daujerebeli ambavi) by renowned directors Nana Jorjadze and Eldar Shengelaia. There will also be a significant exhibition of Cinema Posters curated by Nino Dzandzava from the Georgian National Archive.
Georgia has certainly been on our mind recently, with numerous articles (Humble Magic In Georgian Capital’s Restaurant Renaissance, The Guardian and Vogue magazine), three fabulous cookbooks (Supra, Kaukasis and Tasting Georgia) and two brilliant Radio 4 Food Programmes presented by Dan Saladino. Georgia is famous for its Supra (feast) which brings villagers or city dwellers together round a communal table for food, wine, the most profound toasts, and the most beautiful and sophisticated polyphonic songs.
In May 1918, the first ever democratically elected social-democratic government came to power - in Georgia. Three years of progressive independence followed until the Red Army marched into Tbilisi and Georgia became part of the Soviet Empire until its breakup in 1991. Considered some of the best filmmaking in Soviet times, Georgian film has recently experienced a renaissance in movie making. Producing some of the most interesting recent foreign language films, Georgian filmmakers are consistently winning prizes in international competitions.
To gather all these elements for a centenary celebration of Georgian independence, Life Through Cinema will bring Pheasant's Tears winemaker and restaurateur John Wurdeman, with a group of chefs from his famous Tbilisi restaurants Azarphesha & Poliphonia and singers from Folk Ensemble Didgori to hold a series of commemorative Supras in London’s “most chattered about places on the foodie circuit” Terroirs Wine Bar near Trafalgar Square.
GEORGIA 100 A FILM FEST FEAST
ჩვენი ეზო Our Courtyard AKA Our Yard 1956 directed by Rezo Chkheidze USSR
Sofiko Chiaureli, Giorgi Shengelaia, Leila Abachidze
Picaresque village comedy updated for postwar urban reality set inside a chaotic Tbilisi apartment block about the pursuit of individual happiness and the collective good. Influenced by Italian Neorealism but with a confidence in what a modern Georgia might do.
An exhibition of 30 rarely seen Georgian Cinema Posters from 1926 - 2000 to mark the 100th anniversary of independence and the Georgian Democratic Republic 1918 - 1921. In the period of Soviet totalitarian rule directors from Georgia produced important artistic oeuvres, some of them banned from distribution and not known to a wider public, others won major prizes in internationally renowned film festivals. These rarely seen posters praise Georgian cinema on both sides of the iron curtain, and fill gaps in the history of Georgian cinema. This exhibition has been realised by Bella Radenovic-Tsulukidze
1st - 8th May Terroirs Trafalgar Sq, 5 William IV Street, WC2N 4DN 0207 036 0660 Georgian à la carte menu all week
