Tbilisi-Tbilisi (2005)

Director:

Levan Zaqareishvili

Writer:

Levan Zaqareishvili (writer)

Release Date:

14 July 2005 (Georgia)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A young filmmaker named Dato has no money to make a movie, so he hangs out drinking and brooding all day in the capital of the former Soviet republic...

Plot Keywords:

Georgia Europe | Alcoholism | Poverty | Director | Tragicomedy

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Giorgi Maskharashvili	...	Dato
Eka Nijaradze
Rusiko Kobiashvili
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Berta Khapava
Dato Khurtsilava
Shota Qristesashvili
Baadur Tsuladze

Directed by
Levan Zaqareishvili

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Levan Zaqareishvili		writer

Produced by
Teimuraz Giorgobiani	....	producer
Levan Zaqareishvili	....	producer

Original Music by
Niazi Diasamidze

Cinematography by
Mikheil Magalashvili
Lika Pirveli

Film Editing by
Merab Akhvlediani
Tengo Zaqareishvili

Production Design by
Kote Japaridze
Gogi Tatishvili

Sound Department
Guram Gogua	....	sound

Production Companies

• National Centre of Cinematography of Georgia

Runtime:

France:107 min | Georgia:87 min

Country:

Georgia

Language:

French | Georgian

Color:

Color | Black and White

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Filming Locations:

Tbilisi, Georgia

Company:

National Centre of Cinematography of Georgia

Trivia:

Selected as the Georgian entry in the Best Foreign Language Film category for the 2006 Oscars.

An intensely harrowing drama in dire need of a wider audience

Bleak, oppressive, and utterly without hope, this was Georgia's submission to the Academy last year for Best Foreign Film. The story, such as it is, concerns a filmmaker writing a script, which we see played out in black-and-white segments throughout the film, as he travels around the city meeting friends and crooked politicians and getting beaten by the police because he fits the profile of a drug addict. Every scene is more harrowing than the one that came before it. This film depicts a Tbilisi of thieves, rapists, and drug addicts with corruption at every level of authority, on its last leg with a dying past and an aborted future. As a film it's not perfect, but its only real problems are mere technical issues like dialogue sync. It's definitely a powerful statement -- I suppose the reason it hasn't been distributed anywhere is simply because it's just too bleak. The very end of the credits read, in large Roman letters, "S.O.S."