Tbilisi, Georgia: World-renowned film artist and genius director Otar Ioseliani was born in Tbilisi on February 2, 1934. The Georgian Ministry of Culture and Sports honours Otar Ioseliani’s memory and immense contribution to developing Georgian and world culture. He would have turned 90 today, but he died in Tbilisi on December 17, 2023, at the age of 89.
In 1952, he graduated from Tbilisi Conservatory (composition, conductor and piano). In 1953, he went to Moscow, where he studied for two years at the Faculty of Physics-Mathematics of Moscow State University.
In 1965, he graduated from the director department of the Faculty of Cinematography of the Union State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK) Dovzhenko and m. An ant workshop.
Since 1956, along with studies, he worked as an assistant to the film studio “Georgian Film”, in 1956-1959 – edited, in 1959-1961 – documentary director, and since 1961, he was the studio’s director and screenwriter.
In the first documentary miniature, “Sapovanela” (about gardener-decorator Mikheil Mamulashvili, 1959), the theme of conflict between nature and civilization was poetic. The director touched on the problem of actual and imaginary values in the movie novel “April” (1961). In search of the reality of life, he worked for several months in the Rustavi metal factory and shot a documentary film, “Tuji” (1964).
The first full-length feature film shot about a young nonconformist, “Giorgobistve” (1966), examined the characteristics of his cinema poetry – the synthesis of reality and condition, the structure of the novel, and the selection of actors on the principle of typography. The film won the Fipres and George Sadul awards for the best debut work at the Cannes Film Festival.
The films recognized Otar Ioseforani: “He was a sWaser Singer year” (Year; Prize for the best foBest Foreign Film year, IYear, 1972) and “Pastoral” (1976; Fipres Prize at Berlin International Film Festival, 1982).
These films give a more precise look at the denial of tradition, the erosion of harmony between man and the world, the author’s pain caused by the establishment of the consumer spirit, and contemplation on the course of life and the destiny of man.
Because of the conflict with Soviet censorship, he had to go to emigration. Since 1984, he has been living and working in France.
The first feature film shot in France, “Moon Favorites”, won world recognition (1984; 1985 – Grand Special Jury Prize, OCIC Prize at Venice International Film Festival, CICAE Prize at Berlin International Film Festival).
In 1988 o.k. Iosseliani filmed the documentary “Little Monastery in Tuscany” (1988 – SCAM Prize for Best French Documentary Film of the Year).
His subsequent full-length films were highly successful: “And Made the Light” (1989; Grand Special Jury Prize at the Venice International Film Festival, 1989) and “The Butterfly Hunt” (1992; Italian Film Critics Special Prize at the Venice Film Festival, CICAE Award, Berlin Academy of the Arts Award for the Best Film Production of 1992 S, Italian Ministry of Culture Commission Prize, Moscow Film Critics Prize for 1992 Foreign Film, Award in Italy for the best screenplay of 1992; 1993 – Andrei Tarkovsky Foundation Award at the 18th Moscow International Film Festival, Russian Prize “Triumph”).
In 1995, the TV channel “Arte” filmed a documentary video film “Lonely Georgia”, where the history of Georgia of the XX century and dramatic events of the recent past are considered in connection with the centuries-old past and eternal values of the country.
Otar Ioseliani, who returned to Georgia, shot a fantastic film work – “Robbers, Chapter VII” (Grand Prize of Jury for Director at Venice International Film Festival, 1996; Russian Film Academy Award “Nika” for Best Director, 1997).
Film masterpieces of the director’s later period: “Goodbye Earth” (1999; 2000 y. – Louis Deluci Prize for the best French Film of the Year, the Golden Aries Prize for the best foreign film at the Moscow International Film Festival, the Fipres Prize at the Cannes International Film Festival), “Monday Morning” (2002; Silver Bear for the best director, the Fipress Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival, 2002) and “Autumn Gardens” (2006; Special Jury Prize at Mar del Plata International At the film festival, 2007).
His films, shot in Paris, Venice, Basket, Provence, Tuscany and African villages, are variations of themes originating in Georgia, in which he expresses his doubts and irony towards the challenges of the modern world.
Otar Ioseliani was a member of the European Film Academy, a multiple laureate of international film festivals and professional awards, and an indispensable authority on European author cinema. She created her style and universe and found her own “melody” which she could arrange with great skill and devotion. His films shot in Georgia and abroad are one continuous, unfinished story, a giant canvas, considered a “comedy of people”, on which every new film becomes the next act of the “play of life”.
At Cannes Film Festival 2010, they showed “Shantrapa” based on autobiographical motives (Vigo Award at Cannes International Film Festival). The director’s last film was shot in 2015, “Winter Song” (Special prize of the jury at Lisbon Film Festival, 2016).
Otar Ioseliani was People’s Artist of Georgia (1984), Meritor of Georgian Art (1979), Cavalier of the Order of the Legion of Honor of France (2006), Locarno Film Festival Award – Pardo alla Carrier (201), Russian Film Award “Nika” Award – “Honor and Honor” (2019) and Tbilisi International Film Festival Honorary Award (2022).
