Georgian Cinema Now: Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry (2023)

Georgian cinema is experiencing a remarkable renaissance. Over the past fifteen years, filmmakers from Georgia have earned acclaim at major international festivals, including the Berlinale, Karlovy Vary, Locarno, and IDFA (Amsterdam). This creative flourishing, however, exists in stark contrast to the increasingly repressive political environment in Georgia since the ascent of an authoritarian government in 2024. Independent filmmakers now face severe threats to their freedom of expression and the basic conditions necessary for financing, producing, and exhibiting films domestically, including those perceived as critical of the government.

Georgian Cinema Now will be presented in installments over the course of the coming year, offering an unprecedented opportunity to experience the power, artistry, and urgency of contemporary Georgian filmmaking at a time when it is most at risk. Through screenings, conversations, scholarship, and international collaboration, the project will deepen public understanding of Georgia’s cultural landscape and highlight the essential role of independent artists in societies where democratic freedoms are threatened. A delegation of ten filmmakers and experts will visit the San Francisco Bay Area for ten days in late September, creating a festival-like launch for this ongoing retrospective.

—Susan Oxtoby, Director of Film and Senior Film Curator
Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA)

Copresenters:
Documentary Association Georgia, Tbilisi
Georgian Film Institute, Tbilisi
Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies, UC Berkeley
Department of Art & Art History, Film & Media Studies, Documentary Film & Video, Stanford Global Studies, and Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, Stanford University

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Tuesday, September 29 at 7:00 PM
Venue: McMurtry Building, Oshman Hall
In Conversation: Elene Naveriani

Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry
Elene Naveriani (Georgia/Switzerland, 2023)

(Shashvi shashvi maq’vali). Based on feminist writer Tamta Melashvili’s celebrated novel, this gem of a film follows Etero (Eka Chavleishvili), a forty-eight-year-old woman who lives happily in a provincial Georgian village. Content with her independent lifestyle, Etero’s world is changed by a near-death experience. Naveriani’s deft direction offers a portrait of a woman who doesn’t conform to society, standing in contrast to the norms of present-day Georgia. Beautifully realized, the film’s exceptional use of color and the strong performance by Chavleishvili deliver a work akin to the subtlety and deadpan humor found in the films of Aki Kaurismäki.
 
Written by Naveriani, Nikoloz Mdivani, based on Tamta Melashvili’s novel. Photographed by Agnesh Pakozdi. With Eka Chavleishvili, Temiko Chichinadze, Lia Abuladze, Teo Babukhadia. (110 mins, In Georgian with English subtitles, Color, DCP, From Totem Films)
 

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BAMPFA info:
Georgian Cinema Now: Part 1
Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
2155 Center Street, Berkeley, CA 94720
For complete information about the screenings and the delegation of ten Georgian independent filmmakers and experts visiting the Bay Area between September 22-October 2, 2026, please see:
https://bampfa.org/program/georgian-cinema-now-part-1
 
For detailed information related to the symposium:
Georgian Cinema Now Symposium – Activism in Authoritarian Times: The Republic of Georgia as a Case Study
Saturday, September 26 from 11:30 AM – 5 PM
2155 Center Street, Berkeley, CA 94720
Free admission
Please see: https://bampfa.org/event/georgian-cinema-now-symposium

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Event Image: Elene Naveriani: Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry, 2023