Zaza Urushadze
Directing
Biography
Zaza Urushadze (Georgian: ზაზა ურუშაძე; October 30, 1965 – December 7, 2019) was a Georgian film director, screenwriter, and producer. He graduated in 1988 from the directing department of the Shota Rustaveli Theatre and Film Georgian State University. From 2002 to 2004 he was the director of the Georgian National Film Centre. Zaza's full-length debut film Here Comes the Dawn (1998) was very successful and participated in many international film festivals. It was Georgia's official Best Foreign Language Film submission at the 72nd Academy Awards, but did not receive a nomination. Zaza's second full-length film Three Houses was finished in 2008. It participated in international film festivals (including Montreal World Film Festival). In December 2009, Zaza Urushadze's film opened the program of Georgian Filmweek in Tallinn, Estonia. During the meeting with Artur Veeber and Tatjana Mühlbeier, the idea to write a script for Tangerines was born. Tangerines, the first Estonian-Georgian co-production, was finished in 2013. It became one of the most successful and worldwide acclaimed films in Georgian film history. The story takes place during the war in Georgia, where, in the Apkhazeti region in 1990, an Estonian man, Ivo, has stayed behind to harvest his crops of tangerines. When a wounded man is left at his door, Ivo has no choice but to take him in. The film won awards in several international festivals, including the Satellite Award for Best Foreign Language Film and an Audience Award for best film at the Warsaw International Film Festival. At the International Film Festival Mannheim-Heidelberg 2013, Tangerines won a special prize, the Audience Prize for Best Feature Film and the Cinema Owners Prize and at the Fajr International Film Festival, the film was acknowledged as the best film with the best scriptwriting. It was also nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards and was among the five nominated films at the 72nd Golden Globe Awards for best foreign-language film. Three years later, in 2016, Zaza Urushadze began producing his new film, The Confession (working title "The Monk"). The film was produced by Ivo Felt of Estonia-based Allfilm and Zaza Urushadze's company Cinema24 and was funded with €700,000. The Confession tells the story of a film director-turned-priest whose life in a small mountain village begins to unravel when he meets a local music teacher who is hiding a dark secret. The director said: "I can’t say The Monk will be similar to Tangerines, it will be lighter and maybe even more sensitive, but it will be hopefully very entertaining." Filming took place in Kakheti, Georgia in July and August with a cast including Dmitri Tatishvili, Joseph Khvedelidze, and Sophia Sebiskveradze. The film premiered in early 2017. Zaza Urushadze died of a heart attack on 7 December 2019. Description above from the Wikipedia article Zaza Urushadze, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For
Two detectives Bidzina Tabagari and Lekso Nizharadze try to investigate murder cases connected to the influential businessmen, politicians and members of national security.
Hot Dog
War in Abkhazia, 1992. An Estonian man Ivo has stayed behind to harvest his crops of tangerines. In a bloody conflict at his door, a wounded man is left behind, and Ivo is forced to take him in.
Tangerines
Son Kale Hacibey is a historical action film that tells the story of a battle between the Turkish Ottoman Empire and the Ukrainian Hetmanate Empire on the one hand, and the Russian Empire on the other hand. The forces are fighting to gain control of the Hacibey Castle, an impenetrable fortress located on the Black Sea coast in the heart of Ukrainian Hetmanate Empire. And just when the Russians thought they were winning the battle against Ukrainians and Turks, a mysterious hero - a brave Ukrainian cossack warrior Andriy - arrives in Istambul to deliver a secret message from from Ukrainian Hetmanate Empire's leadership. A message that can forever change the course of this battle.
The Last Fortress, Hacibey
Ukraine, 1919. The friendship of two boys, Anton and Jacob, one Christian, the other Jewish, manages to survive the prejudices and hatred that dominate the minds of adults in the aftermath of World War I and the Russian Revolution.
Anton
Priest Giorgi, a former Film Director, is sent to serve the small parish in the mountain village. To bring villagers closer to church he starts showing films there. After the screening of the first picture - "Some Like It Hot" - the audience imply that the local music teacher Lili looks exactly like Marilyn Monroe. After meeting Lili, Father Giorgi's balance between cleric and secular world starts to quiver - the woman is extremely sexy and the temptation is difficult to resist.
The Confession
After 16 years of imprisonment, 40-years-old Gogliko is released from jail. He doesn't exactly know what he did that deserved 16 years of jail time. A free man, a changed country awaits him. His personal life has drastically altered. His parents have passed and most of his friends have died during the Civil War period. Gogliko realizes that he will not be able to find his place in this "new" Georgia, only thing he has to do is to care about his passed friend's 16-years-old son.
A Trip to Karabakh 3 Last Trip
The head of the security service is faced with a choice: to continue serving the state or to give up everything in order to save his sick son.
Here Comes the Dawn
hree stories happening in three different centuries, revolve around a mysterious painting entitled "Two Owls". In the 19th century thread, a man living in a big mansion is worried about his brother whose wife died a while ago. The brother however behaves as if she was still alive. A befriended psychiatrist is being called for help in order to examine the phenomenon in long conversations. He has to recognize however that the man's behavior doesn't harm anyone. He actually offers a painting to the doctor which his wife allegedly just finished: it's called "Two Owls". The painting reappears in the midst of World War II. A woman finds it in the apartment of her husband's lover. The general of the Red Army was just found dead there. He died in the arms of his concubine. Torn between ambiguous feelings of grief and anger the widow has to make a decision. She also needs to retain her composure as the military police is already waiting outside. The last story happens in present time.
Three Houses
The sad love story between singer Keti and student Nika.
Stay with Me
At the heart of the film is the story of a young talented artist Kiril, in whose fate persistently puts a weapon in his hand instead of a brush. Demanding from him the life of a warrior, not a painter.
The Narrow Bridge
The movie is about a mute boy who is greatly affected by the constant fighting between his parents. It turns out that his aggressiveness and muteness has a deep psychological cause.
He Who Was Abandoned by His Fathers
Growing up in Soviet Tbilisi, Lado moves through strict school days, developing a quiet crush on a classmate, and spending a summer in a seaside town that tests loyalty, friendship, and the limits of growing up under authoritarian regime with his uncle and best friend.