Directed by Eldar Shengelaia and Tamaz Meliava • 1963 • USSR/Georgia

Eldar Shengelaia’s first mature feature, co-directed with Tamaz Meliava, is a forceful, poetic take on the timeless conflict between the countryside and the city, reminiscent of Murnau’s silent classic Sunrise. The tragic plot centres around Gela, a young shepherd who abandons his family's traditional way of life, as well as his young love Maria, when he succumbs to the allure of urban living. Shengelaia’s feel for the rhythms and pressures of rural labour are played off against stunning photography of Georgia's Caucasus mountains. Starring the director’s then-wife Ariadna and Georgian-Soviet screen veteran Spartak Bagashvili.

THE WHITE CARAVAN • თეთრი ქარავანი
Directed by Eldar Shengelaia
Co-directed by Tamaz Meliava
Written by Merab Eliozishvili
Cinematography by Leonid Kalashnikov and Giorgi Kalatozishvili
Music by Irakli Gejadze
Starring: Spartak Bagashvili, Ariadna Shengelaia, Imedo Kakhiani

In Georgian with English subtitles

Nominated for the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, 1964