Director Salome Jashi plays with the idea of perception in this enlightening film about contemporary Georgian life. The town folk in the interviews, as well as the journalists themselves, are acutely aware of how they are perceived.
Date/Time: May 13 2017, 2:45 pm to 4:30 pm
Vancouver, The CinemathequeCost: $15.00
Find tickets: here
Salome Jashi | Germany, Georgia | 2016 | 73 minutes
REGARD NEUF PRIZE, BEST FIRST FEATURE-LENGTH, VISIONS DU RÉEL 2016
Wildly hilarious and illuminating stories from a village in Georgia are portrayed through the lens of the only news station in town. Determined local journalist Dariko reports on events such as the capture of a rare species of owl, and an absurd children’s beauty pageant. “Don’t laugh,” Dariko tells the man who caught the owl. “This is a serious interview.”
The town of Tsalenjikha (population 8,900) is sometimes a little short on material to cover. But Dariko, with her dour cameraman Jashi in tow, films everything from a boisterous wedding party to a church mass. The news is aired once a week, and is primarily popular for its death announcements.
Director Salome Jashi plays with the idea of perception in this enlightening film about contemporary Georgian life. The town folk in the interviews, as well as the journalists themselves, are acutely aware of how they are perceived. This often results in delicately painful conversations about just what aspects of the community, and its inhabitants, should be displayed, and what content is best left out. -AP
In the words of the original documentary rebel Chris Marker: “Rarely has reality needed so much to be imagined.” In an increasingly chaotic world, documentary comes to the rescue, offering radical reinvention, brave new ideas for the future, and a flinty and unyielding form of hope.
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