Otar Iosseliani, The Whistling Blackbird

Director Julie Bertuccelli, a renowned French documentary filmmaker, worked as an assistant to Otar Iosseliani, becoming a close friend. Her widely well received 2003 feature film, Since Otar Left, was filmed in Tbilisi and Paris. In this personal and warm documentary, she films the great director at work during the preparation of his 2006 film Gardens in Autumn (Jardins en automne). She captures his unique directing style, artistic doubts and gentle madness. The title also refers to one of his early films There Was Once a Singing Blackbird.