Otar Iosseliani: Kurzfilm Programm:

Aquarell, The Flowers, Aprili, Cast Iron, Georgian ancient Songs, Letter from a Filmmaker. Seven Pieces on Black & White Cinema

Aquarell [Akwareli] [OmeU]
SU, 1958, R: Otar Iosseliani mit Gennadi Krasheninnikov, Sofiko Chiaureli, Otar Iosseliani, 10 Min

A poor family’s wearisome everyday existence is unexpectedly changed by art.

The Flowers [Sapovnela] [OV]
SU, 1959, R: Otar Iosseliani, 18 Min

An older man has to make way for a road through the blossoming garden that he loves. This was Iosseliani's first and only color film until 1983.

Aprili [No Dialogue]
SU, 1962, R: Otar Iosseliani mit Tatyana Chanturia, Gia Chiraqadze, Akakiy Chikvaidze, 47 Min

A young happy couple moves from a poor district to a new housing estate. Their relationship gets progressively worse as their comfort and possessions increase. This is the film closest to the work of Jacques Tati thanks to the comic effect of the modified sounds, the reduced dialogue and the skepticism regarding progress achieved through modernization.

Cast Iron [Tudschi] [No Dialogue]
SU, 1964, R: Otar Iosseliani, 16 Min

Tudschi is about the daily routine at an ironworks. But the central subject of this uncommented documentary is not fascination for the machines or the achievements of the Soviet steel industry but the people who work at the plant.

Georgian ancient Songs [Dzweli kartuli simgherebi] [OmeU]
SU, 1968, R: Otar Iosseliani, 20 Min

This filmic poem celebrates the different artisan and cultural traditions of Georgia - graphic arts, wall painting, wine, ceramics and carpentry and song.

Letter from a Filmmaker. Seven Pieces on Black & White Cinema [Sept pièces pour
cinéma noir et blanc] [No Dialogue]
FR, 1982, R: Otar Iosseliani mit Otar Iosseliani, Philippe Cousin, Daniel Bouche-Billy, 25 Min
Before Iosseliani started working on the "Favourites Of The Moon" he tried to capture on film his
first impressions of the city and the people who inhabit it. In this black-and white etude of Paris,
the succession of sketches - an old man leaves his home without anyone paying attention and
goes to sit on a bench in the street, a man and a woman meet in a cafe, two men exchange
gunshots, etc. - are interspersed with rhythmic images and sounds of the city.