Cinema
ნეილონის ნაძვის ხე
Rezo Esadze · 1985
Synopsis
On New Year's Eve, at the coach station, travellers in a hurry to reach the festive table pile into a crowded coach. They are known only by nicknames: the little one, the sharp-eyed one, the man in the hood, the tall beanpole, the lady with the bun, and among them travels a nylon Christmas tree. The wait and the discomfort make irritation rise, and the wildest rumours are born and grow from mouth to mouth.
Context
The screenplay is by Amiran Dolidze and the director, the music by Bidzina Kvernadze, and the cinematography by Levan Paatashvili, who refused any lighting equipment and worked only with the daylight entering the vehicle. The critic Akaki Bakradze, who gave the first review, wrote that nothing united this society and saw in the cold the film's second character. Shooting began in the early eighties, before perestroika, when the Moscow censorship watched Georgian cinema closely. Seventy-nine minutes, in colour.
Who it is for
In Georgian, with no French release. It helps to know that almost everything takes place on a bus, and that what is played out there is closer to parable than to plot.
Prizes and reception
First place at the Rotterdam International Film Festival and the grand prize at the Avellino International Film Festival.