The Rider from the Wild West

The Rider from the Wild West, originally called Who is Guilty?, was adapted from a Georgian play in 1925 by director Aleksandre Tsutsunava, who also directed the first Georgian feature film Qristine (1916).

Siko, a young farmer from western Georgia, joins a group of riders who leave for America in the hope of becoming rich, leaving his wife Pati to face a series of unfortunate events while he is away.

The film has elements of real-life events as horse-riders from Guria did actually travel to America. Tsutsunava built a pavilion to create an American circus in Georgia, and it was one of the first films of the region to include scenes with exteriors of this scale.

Pati is played by silent film star Nato Vachnadze and Siko by acclaimed director Kote Mikaberidze.

This year we celebrate 120 years since the birth of Nato Vachnadze, perhaps the biggest film star Georgia has ever produced. The Nato Vachnadze Foundation was launched this year with the aim of supporting Georgian filmmaking. In June, the foundation hosted the first Georgian film awards at the museum dedicated to Vachnadze in her hometown of Gurjaani.