Section: Spotlight: Georgia

ALAVERDOBA

Giorgi Shengelaia

USSR (Georgia), 1962, 40 Min

A newspaper editorial office receives information about a religious festival in Kakheti. The general feeling among the journalists is clear: old customs that have lost their meaning and only serve as an excuse to get drunk. Everyone agrees, only Gurami doubts: are these traditions really so outdated?

Gurami sets out to take part in the harvest festival at Alawerdi Monastery. He wants to see for himself whether such centuries-old Christian Orthodox customs have become meaningless in the new atheistic Soviet era and degenerated into mere drunkenness. Arriving at the monastery, he not only observes the celebrating population, but also becomes an active part of the festival.

The folkloristic and religious ceremonies in the film made by Giorgi Shengelaia during his studies at the Moscow Film Academy VGIK earned him a five-year ban. MM

Filmformat
DCP | s/w / b/w

Drehbuch
Revaz Inanishvili, Guram Rcheulishvili, Giorgi Shengelaia

Kamera
Aleksandre Rekhviashvili

Ton
Vladimer Dolidze

Musik
Peliks Glonti

Darsteller
Geidar Palavandishvili, Kote Daushvili, Irakli Kokrashvili, Leo Balisevich, Nodar Piranishvili, Kote Toloraia

Produzent
Shota Khojava

Giorgi Shengelaia - born in 1937 in Tbilisi, USSR (today Georgia). He studied at the Moscow Film Academy and made numerous feature films as a director and screenwriter. In 1986 he won a Silver Bear at the Berlinale for his comedy THE JOURNEY OF A YOUNG COMPOSER (1985). He and his brother Eldar Shengelaia have been among Georgia's most important filmmakers since the 1960s.

Movies
PIROSMANI (1969)
AKHALGAZRDA KOMPOZITORIS MOGZAUROBA (1985)
MIDIODA MATAREBELI (2005)

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