Levan Koguashvili

Follows Georgian ex-wrestler’s journey to Brooklyn, New York. His aim is to get his son out of a gambling debt. He meets people who help him and people who ignore him.

A lonely 40-year-old schoolteacher takes up with the wife of a soon-to-be-released convict. A compassionate tragicomedy commenting on relationships and the profound emotional responsibilities they trigger.

Two illegal Georgian immigrants struggle to get their lives together in Brooklyn, New York.

A middle-aged, unemployed heroin-addict, Checkie, loiters on the Tbilisi street outside his son’s school, where he himself was once a promising student. His wife, meanwhile, struggles to pay the tuition and understand her husband’s lack of interest in the family’s survival—even as the bank repossesses their furniture. But when a group of policemen blackmails Checkie into entrapping the son of his wealthy friend, husband and wife are unified by the uncertainty of their deepening moral dilemma, and a series of worsening foul-ups, in Levan Koguashvili’s lightly humorous yet realistic drama about the fate of a generation left behind in Georgia’s post-Soviet era.

GURIA is an astute dramedy about everyday life in a village in western Georgia. This poignant, yet humorous slice of life, brims with charming, loveable characters – fighting against all odds to live a proud and joyful life. Guria champions ingenuity, kindness, and the eternal search for love despite a raging civil war. Though set after the collapse of the Soviet Union, it is a timely reminder of how shared humanity and compassion are the truest measure of our capacity.

After 14 years in prison, the time has come for Gogita to return to his normal life. His wishes seem modest enough: a home of his own and then marriage to a nice woman. But who would be interested in a poor farmer and ex-con who still lives with his mother? Then he meets Maka on the internet. She's not that young anymore, and she's not the prettiest girl in the world, but she can bake delicious cakes. They're soon making grand plans without even having met.

In this compelling documentary, filmmaker Levan Koguashvili follows a group of illegal immigrant women from Eastern Europe's Georgia working in atrocious conditions in the United States in an effort to support their families back home. Exploring the women's stories and examining their lives in New York and New Jersey, Koguashvili reveals why they exist as ghosts in an alien culture in order to take care of children, spouses, siblings and parents.