FILM: Impressions from Rustavely. By Nana Tchitchoua (youtube.com)

Film by Nana Tchitchoua. Impressions from Rustavely is a short, 16mm film inspired by an 800 yrs old manuscript, written by a Georgian monk, Shota Rustaveli, who dedicated his romantic epic poem to the female King Tamara. The manuscript is considered as prophecy by the Georgian people. The film is closely linked with the figure of Tamara, whose name recalls to her people an epoch of nations glory; thus the work glorifies love, beauty and the nobility of the female king. The Knight in the Panther's Skin, is a Persian and Indian tale written in the old Georgian language, regarded as magical in itself. The film portrays heroes and heroines whose radiant loveliness is represented as bright celestial light. The heroes and heroines are performed all by female artists except the character of the monk. I am developing a visually inspired language that produces certain notions on gender. Every culture has its own concept of femininity, and I am interested in investigating the discourse among and between Western and Eastern cultures. I become reflectively creative with ideas of erotic fascination and images regarded as "beautiful". The work inspires cinematic intervention into painting, honoring the Byzantine poetics and my Georgian lineage which challenges the anxious American cyber manipulations by showing us a more ancient postmodern transcendental light. The sense and meaning of the poem cannot be represented by static painting and conventional narrative form. The story is preserved by breaking the film into segments; Impressions of Rustaveli is shot in a frontal style, without camera movements, locating somewhere between painting and cinema.
This is a story of my thoughts, my memories and dreams.