Once Upon a Time There Was a Singing Blackbird
From Sun 12 to Thu 16 MayThe film is mockingly named after a Georgian fairy tale and depicts 36 hours in the life of a young musician, who plays the timpani in the Tbilisi orchestra. The world of this hedonistic composer is masterfully created with magical sequences of sound, silence, and music (radio playing, clocks ticking or groups singing Georgian polyphonic songs). Shown at the 1974 Cannes Film Festival Directors’ Fortnight, this is one of Iosseliani’s most poetic films.
Introduction
The screening on 12 May at 14.00 will be introduced by award-winning director Nino Kirtadze
About Nino Kirtadze
Nino is a Georgian-born French journalist, actress and film director who has lived in France since 1997. She starred in Nana Jorjadze’s OSCAR nominated film A Chef in Love (1996). Her own documentary feature films have received international acclaim and won numerous prizes including the European Film Academy Best Documentary Prize for Pipeline Next Door (2005), and the World Cinema Best Director Prize at Sundance, for Durakovo – Village of Fools (2008). She is also a founder and leading member of the Georgian Film Institute (GFI), recently formed in reaction to the Georgian Ministry of Culture’s overtly political appointment of the first non-filmmaker to the head of the Georgian National Film Centre. Nino was a great friend and admirer of Otar Iosseliani.
