A YOUNG COMPOSER'S JOURNEY

Georgi Schengelaja's comic drama involves the journey of a young folk musician in Georgia in 1908, who unwittingly finds himself in the midst of a middle-class and peasant revolt against the Tsar. His encounters with the villagers are colourful and droll, yet, at the same time, tinged with tragedy as the soldiers round up the people the composer has been in contact with. The evocative photography (by Lewan Paataschwili) and production design (by Boris Tschakaja and Nikolaj Schengelaja) lends the imagery a sense of beauty, tragedy, humour and tension.

Director and co-writer Schengelaja studied under Alexander Dovschenko and Michail Romm at the Moscow film academy, before graduating in 1962 with the acclaimed Alawerdoba.