Topsy-Turvy: two by Otar Iosseliani
As his films return to screens, celebrate one of Georgia’s most beloved filmmakers with a double bill of his features. Available until 17 September.
Otar Iosseliani was a confirmed non-conformist, a cinematic anarchist, a champion of misfits, drunks, and the underdogs of both Soviet communism and Western capitalism. With his bustling long takes and mordant humour, he skewered the absurdities of the modern world in both his native Georgia and his adopted homeland of France. In his feature debut Falling Leaves (1966), a young man learns some choice life lessons after taking a job at a flailing Tbilisi wine factory. Meanwhile, Farewell, Home Sweet Home (1999) is one of Iosseliani’s most acclaimed French features, a kaleidoscopic farce about the fluctuating fortunes of an aristocratic family on the outskirts of Paris that recalls Jacques Tati and Luis Buñuel – and features Iosseliani himself in the role of a lovable drunk. Available until 17 September.
Otar Iosseliani: Fables of Modern Life, co-presented by Klassiki, runs from 24 July at Asia Society and from 8 August at Metrograph in New York.
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Falling Leaves
Directed by Otar Iosseliani • 1966 • USSR/Georgia
Otar Iosseliani’s delightfully off-kilter debut feature set the tone for his career. Ramaz Giorgobiani plays Niko, a diffident young man who finds his principles tested while employed as a technician at a Tbilisi wine factory. His bosses are pres...
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Farewell, Home Sweet Home
Available until 17 September
Directed by Otar Iosseliani • 1999 • FranceOne of Otar Iosseliani’s most acclaimed French features, this kaleidoscopic farce traces the fluctuating fortunes of an aristocratic family on the outskirts of Paris. Iosseliani himself plays the drunken father, sequestered...
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Topsy-Turvy: two by Otar Iosseliani
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