Giorgobistve

A village during harvest. Otar Iosseliani dedicates the first minutes of his film to an act of community strength in almost documentary fashion: the traditional Georgian grape harvest, followed by the harvest festival with overflowing tables, wine carafes full to the brim and extensive toasts. This annual pastoral fixture collides with the hectic life in the city of Tbilisi and the industrial wine production in a collective, where idealistic university graduate Niko lands his first job. It becomes clear that immature wine is to be bottled in order to meet socialist targets, and Niko is the only one to protest. From humorful and light to sharp and satirical, Otar Iosseliani’s debut is an ode to the non-conventional – and to Georgian wine.