Power Trip

Nothing Lasts Forever: Russian Punks in Georgia

May 2024 •English

Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, many in Russia's DIY punk scene fled to Tbilisi, Georgia. Mobilization only exacerbated that trend. This documentary follows the stories of some of those punks but also explores the complicated socio-economic effects they have on the city. The film is about the potential for punk and other similar subcultures to make connections even across otherwise tense political borders.

Understanding The Georgian Republic

February 1993 •French

The Trader

January 2018 •Georgian

A traveling trader provides a window into rural life in the Republic of Georgia, where potatoes are currency and ambition is crushed by poverty.

Our Blood Is Wine

February 2018 •English

Filmmaker Emily Railsback and award-winning sommelier Jeremy Quinn provide intimate access to rural family life in the Republic of Georgia as they explore the rebirth of 8,000-year-old wine-making traditions almost lost during the period of Soviet rule.

The Ruler

Invalid date •English

Stalin’s statue in the garden of a nunnery provokes discussion – plenty of it – in a small Georgian village. Some of the locals used to know Stalin personally because he visited the village several times when he was young, and they continue to see him as a benign ruler from the good old days rather than the brutal dictator he was. Whenever an episode of purge shook the Soviet Union’s republics, they hid the statue in the woods. The church also plays an important role in people’s lives. All in all, the film reveals a fundamental conflict in Georgian society.

The War Diary

April 2023 •French

The War Diary is a contemporary road movie that confronts history with the current reality of Russia, Ukraine, Armenia and Georgia. An extraordinary document leads Hakob Melkonyan to undertake the journey of a lifetime:

Gogita's new life

May 2017 •English

After 14 years in prison, the time has come for Gogita to return to his normal life. His wishes seem modest enough: a home of his own and then marriage to a nice woman. But who would be interested in a poor farmer and ex-con who still lives with his mother? Then he meets Maka on the internet. She's not that young anymore, and she's not the prettiest girl in the world, but she can bake delicious cakes. They're soon making grand plans without even having met.

Тіні Війни

September 1993 •Ukrainian

Angels of Sorrow

November 2016 •Georgian

A documentary film "Angels of Sorrow", dedicated to the 80th Jubilee of a contemporary Georgian classic composer - Giya Kancheli is filmed during the concert tour in several cities of the world (Berlin, Brussels, Antwerp, Baku, Tbilisi). He is an artist, for whom the most important thing in all time was freedom. During Soviet period, he was accused of introducing morphine with his music and that he rejoiced enemies in capitalist countries with it. Giya Kancheli with his friends replied to all these from theater stage, where they reflected the whole absurdity of the Soviet Union. The war is still going on - Art can't change anything.

And Then We Danced

September 2019 •Georgian

A passionate coming-of-age tale set amidst the conservative confines of modern Tbilisi, the film follows Merab, a competitive dancer who is thrown off balance by the arrival of Irakli, a fellow male dancer with a rebellious streak.

Arsena, the Brigand

February 1923 •Georgian

Following an order of the landowner, the bride of Arsena’s fellow villager gets kidnapped and the bride’s father is relentlessly flogged. Arsena tries to rescue the woman but fails and goes to the mountains with his newly married wife. Above all, Arsena learns that his wife is impregnated by the landowner and burns down his house. Arsena gets arrested, but manages to escape and joins the rebel peasants. Arsena feels that with the passage of time the rebels turn into criminals and continues to fight with the oppressors alone.

What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?

November 2021 •Georgian

In the Georgian riverside town of Kutaisi, summertime romance and World Cup fever are in the air. After a pair of chance encounters, pharmacist Lisa and soccer player Giorgi find their plans for a date undone when they both awaken magically transformed with no way to recognize each other.

Comets

September 2019 •Georgian

Three decades after their separation, Irina and Nana remain mesmerized by memories of earlier days. But when Irina returns to the small community she left — where Nana stayed to start a traditional family — the women must reconcile with the past and their complex feelings.

5 Days of War

June 2011 •English

An American journalist and his cameraman are caught in the combat zone during the first Russian airstrikes against Georgia. Rescuing Tatia, a young Georgian schoolteacher separated from her family during the attack, the two reporters agree to help reunite her with her family in exchange for serving as their interpreter. As the three attempt to escape to safety, they witness--and document--the devastation from the full-scale crossfire and cold-blooded murder of innocent civilians.

Gondola

March 2024 •

In the Georgian mountains, a cable car connects a village with a smaller town in the valley. Iva started working for the cable car as a conductor and is now in charge of handling the gondolas. While one gondola goes up to the village, the other goes down to the valley. Halfway down, the gondolas meet every half hour. This is exactly the moment when Iva and Nina, the conductor of the other gondola, meet each time. Where at the beginning only collegial greetings were exchanged, over time a flirtation develops. What follows is the big love and stress with the boss.

Share the Love

January 2025 •Georgian

Kari and Onia meet in Cannes, experiencing love at first sight. Upon returning to Sakartvelo, they are quarantined in different hotels in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. They stay in touch via phone calls and video chat. Kari teaches Onia Caucasian Yoga breath training and they travel in past to meet a variety of Georgian historical figures during their important life events, in order to understand the wisdom and limits of love.

Andro

December 2017 •Georgian

In a post war Georgia, an unemployed architect, Andro tries to help out his family, fills the car with household junk and goes to Turkey for private trading, with his son Dato. On the border they give a ride to a Turkish hitchhiker Taner, to Trabzon. This meeting turns this harmless journey, into series of unfortunate events for Andro and his son.

Wet Sand

November 2022 •Georgian

A village on the Georgian Black Sea is full of friendly people convinced they know each other. One day, Eliko is found hanged. His granddaughter Moe comes to organize his funeral. She is confronted with a web of lies and the tragic consequences of Eliko's hidden love life with Amnon, which lasted 22 years. The truth however frees Moe’s capability to love and forces the villagers to take a stand.

The Enemies

May 2017 •Russian

Georgian - South Ossetian conflict, August 8, 2008. Georgian troops are in the main administrative town of South Ossetia – Tskhinvali. While searching for a house, a Georgian soldier hears extraneous noise coming from the underground.

Watermelon

June 2012 •Georgian

In Georgia, in the middle of a desert, on the hottest day of summer two water-melon sellers cross paths.