FILM: Jachvliani’s Svani earns international acclaim

By Marika Kakhadze

Georgian Times , March 17 “When it became dark in the gorge of Mulakhi, a white angel would descend from the mountain of Tetnuldi to the Jachvliani family tower. The residents of the tower would begin praying. The angel protected them until those who lived in the tower killed a man from another tribe. Since then, the white angel has never been seen.”
These words dramatically open Svani, a new film by Soso Jachvliani, which, on March 7, premiered at the Rustaveli and Amirani cinemas in Tbilisi.
The film was shown successfully at a number of film festivals, and it earned acclaim and interest from European and Asian film critics, filmmakers and spectators. As the lead producer of the film, Jachvliani calls this film a must see for the younger generation.
The film greatly impressed foreign spectators and brought recognition to Jachvliani as a film producer. The Georgian Time interviews Mr. Jachvliani to learn more about his film, Svani:

G.T.: Mr. Jachvliani, the film became very popular in Europe and Asia, where does the plot come from?
Soso Jachvliani: The film is based on a real story; it is a film legend about life, feud and love. In Vienna it was presented on the first pages of the festival catalogue and ran like this: In the Caucasian mountains, Georgia, is home to the oldest sect of Christians called Svanebi, who have maintained an ancient tradition of blood revenge.
G.T.: Did the film critics become negative after such a presentation especially in Europe?
Soso Jachvliani: In every film festival where Svani was showed, it gathered great interest. We took the film last year and premiered it at the film festival of Vienna and earned great interest. The film was also showed in city of Goa in India, As you know, in this city, in the St. Augustine church the saint parts of martyred Georgian Queen Ketevan are buried. After showing Svani, Indian and Icelandic participants, who had made a joint documentary about St. Ketevan, came to speak to me. Svani premiered in Delhi too; everywhere we showed the film, it earned great interest. The Indian movie makers bought the plot, and now they are going to make an Indian re-make of the film.
G.T.: Mr. Jachvliani, it is a luxury to make a film at our time. What was the budget of the Svani?
Soso Jachvliani: Its budget is 2 million US dollars; we took the film with the best equipment, which we imported from abroad. A group of 60 men went to Svaneti and took the film in 28 days. Oh, and also, the scriptwriters were Soso and Badry Jachvliani, Amiran Chichinadze, Amiran Dolidze, Eka Jangveladze, and Irma Pirtskhaliashvili. The film stars Badry Jachvliani, Elene Velikanova, Elguja Burduli, Onise Oniani, Aleksandre Skodnikovi, Zurab Cinckiladze, Salome Gasviani and others. The narration was by Zura Kipshidze