The Caucasus on Film
From Georgia and Armenia to Chechnya and Azerbaijan, here are 33 essential films from or about the Caucasus region of Russia and the former Soviet Union in chronological order.
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33 titles
- DirectorIvane PerestianiStarsAmo Bek-NazaryanMikheil ChiaureliTamar SakvarelidzeLegend of Surami Fortress. Love revenge can be very painful.
- DirectorAmo Bek-NazaryanStarsHovhannes AbelyanHasmik AgopyanOlga MaisuryanYoung lovers Seyran and Susan meet a tragic fate because of patriarchal prejudices of their parents. Although arranged for marriage in early childhood, and despite youngsters' love, Barkhudar marries his daughter Susan to another man, as a matter of honour.
- DirectorAmo Bek-NazaryanStarsNato VachnadzeAkaki KhoravaMikheil ChiaureliLove, adventure, and revolutionary uprising in 19th century Georgia.
- DirectorAmo Bek-NazaryanStarsMaria TenaziHrachia NersisyanAvet AvetisyanImmediately prior to the Russian Revolution, a young shepherd Seydo and his girlfriend Zare struggle for their right to a happy love in a Yazidi Kurdish village in Russian Armenia.
- DirectorNikoloz ShengelaiaStarsAleksandre ImedashviliKokhta KaralashviliKira AndronikashviliIn 19th century, the Russian government tries to resettle a Chechen village to Turkey, but the villagers are not keen on being evicted from their homeland.
- DirectorKote MikaberidzeStarsAleksandre TakaishviliBella ChernovaEvgeniy OvanovThe protagonist, a lazy pen-pusher, gets the sack for his bureaucratic idleness, and learns that the way back into the job market depends on getting a letter of recommendation from a "grandmother".
- DirectorTengiz AbuladzeRezo ChkheidzeStarsDudukhana TserodzeLiana MoistsrapishviliMikho BorashviliSmall Georgian village (ca. 1890) Magdana a widow lives in a shack with her 3 children and ekes out a living selling yogurt. When the children find a donkey lying by the road and nurse it to health, it seems the family's troubles are over.
- DirectorRezo ChkheidzeStarsSofiko ChiaureliGiorgi ShengelaiaLeila AbashidzeA lyrical story about the people of neighborhood in Tbilisi.
- DirectorSiko DolidzeStarsVladimir TkhapsaevTamara KokovaOtar MegvinetukhutsesiA newborn girl was exposed to Ossetian prince. Several years passed away. Beauty Fatima and prince's son Jambolat fell in love.
- DirectorNikolay PolenkovNikolai ZhukovStarsBariat MuradovaMuradkhan KukhmazovYe. KhashayevaDagestan aul, 1930s. Almost simultaneously, children should be born at two neighbors, Bashir and Kasum. Bashir already has three daughters and he swears to expel his wife if she gives birth to the fourth. Nurzhan, the mother of Khanum (Bashir's wife), wants to resort to the aid of the fortune-teller Aishat. She offers to change the babies in case Guriat gives birth to a girl. So it turns out: Khanum gives birth to a girl, and Guriat (wife of Kasum) to a boy. Aishat and Nurzhan are changing their children.
- DirectorAmasi MartirosyanStarsFrunzik MkrtchyanMurad KostanyanArman KotikyanDrunkard Garsevan is supposed to bring wine for testing to specialist Poghosyan. On the road he drinks the wine and is picked up by a young couple who think that he is a victim of road accident.
- DirectorDmitri KesayantsStarsTatik SaryanFrunzik MkrtchyanSos SargsyanSmart servant and stingy master.
- DirectorLevon IsahakyanHenrik MalyanStarsLeonid YengibarovI. ShestuaI. DanzasFamous Soviet Armenian clown Leonid Yengibarov stars in this film about the artistic quest of a talented circus actor.
- DirectorRezo ChkheidzeStarsSergo ZakariadzeVladimir PrivaltsevAleksandr NazarovAn old man goes to visit his wounded son in a hospital, but it turns out that he's already been released and is back on the front lines. Reluctant to return home empty-handed, he tries to follow and find him.
- DirectorFrunze DovlatyanStarsArmen DzhigarkhanyanRolan BykovNatalya FateevaArtyom Manvelyan is a famous physicist and founder of a cosmology laboratory in Armenia. With loyalty and gentleness he keeps the memories of past war, his friends and lost love.
- DirectorTengiz AbuladzeStarsSpartak BagashviliRusudan KiknadzeRamaz ChkhikvadzeBrave sons of Khevsureti and Kisteti fight against each to protect their homelands. But, they confront faulty domestic traditions to respect enemy's true prowess and find themselves in conflict with own compatriots.
- DirectorLeonid GaidaiStarsAleksandr DemyanenkoNatalya VarleyVladimir EtushA young student Shurik comes to a remote mountainous region in search of ancient legends and traditions. Fooled by the corrupt local governor, he helps him to kidnap a beautiful young girl, but soon realizes what he's done.
- DirectorSergei ParajanovStarsSofiko ChiaureliMelkon AlekyanVilen GalstyanThe life of the Armenian poet Sayat-Nova, from childhood to death: his spiritual journey, artistic endeavors, and inner conflicts within the cultural and historical context of Armenia. Hailed as revolutionary by Mikhail Vartanov.
- DirectorHenrik MalyanStarsSos SargsyanFrunzik MkrtchyanKhoren AbrahamyanCalm of the mountain village is disturbed by the investigation on stray sheep.
- DirectorOtar IosselianiStarsGela KandelakiGogi ChkheidzeJansug KakhidzeA carefree young percussionist roams the streets of Tbilisi, interacting with friends and strangers alike, and tries to avoid responsibilities.
- DirectorArtavazd PeleshianThe last collaboration of Artavazd Peleshian and cinematographer Mikhail Vartanov is a film-essay about Armenia's shepherds, about the contradiction and the harmony between man and nature, scored to Vivaldi's Four Seasons.
- DirectorNerses HovhannisyanStarsArmen DzhigarkhanyanMurad KostanyanVerjaluys MirijanyanPopular musical comedy satirizing Russian-Armenian relations, featuring Arno Babadzhanyan's hit songs.
- DirectorTengiz AbuladzeStarsLika KavzharadzeIosif JachvlianiZaza KolelishviliThis film is about psychology of people, about lonesome persons, about terrible mentality and about fantastic dreams...
- DirectorGeorgiy DaneliyaStarsVakhtang KikabidzeFrunzik MkrtchyanElena ProklovaLocal Georgian pilot Mimino dreams of flying airplanes for major international airlines. To realize his aspirations, he goes to Moscow where he encounters a fellow comrade from the Caucasus, the Armenian Rubik. Many misadventures ensue.
- DirectorRasim OjagovStarsAleksandr KalyaginHäsän MämmädovShafiga MammadovaThe investigator Seifi Ganiev runs the case of an illegal mercery shop's head Murad Abiyev, who confessed in embezzlement of one million rubles from public funds.Abiyev is also accused of the murder of an underage girls that occurred in Riga shortly after Abiyev saw her. He denies his guilt, but does not name the perpetrators though he knows them, despite the fact that he is facing the death penalty. The investigator understands that some high-ranking officials stand behind Abiyev, but he has no proof.Ganiev seeks to obtain from the prisoner the whole truth to bring the criminals to justice.
- DirectorGennadi MelkonyanStarsRazmik AroyanLeonard SarkisovNona PetrosyanOne of the USSR's most watched and popular comedies about two families and a mulberry tree was Mikhail Vartanov's first collaboration with Gennadi Melkonyan
- DirectorHenrik MalyanStarsFrunzik MkrtchyanSofiko ChiaureliAshot AdamyanAbout the love of shy and honest Torik with Anjel - girl with the oldest occupation in the world. Could Torik survive the disgrace from the town?
- DirectorEldar ShengelaiaStarsRamaz GiorgobianiVasil KakhniashviliTeimuraz ChirgadzeAn author - a passive young man - enters the Soviet-controlled bureaucracy of Georgia attempting to get his novel published only to be neglected and compartmentalized at every turn.
- DirectorSergei ParajanovDodo AbashidzeStarsVeriko AnjaparidzeTamari TsitsishviliDudukhana TserodzeA film version of a well-known Georgian folk-tale. A young boy has to be immured into the walls of a fortress in order to stop it from crumbling to pieces.
- DirectorAlbert MkrtchyanStarsGalya NoventsFrunzik MkrtchyanElina AgamyanThis is a story about the fate of a broken family, about the uncertainty of Ruben, who left his family, about attempts to return father, and about a series of funny, but also sad events that bring this dead-end story to a conclusion.
- DirectorTengiz AbuladzeStarsAvtandil MakharadzeZeinab BotsvadzeIa NinidzeVarlam, the despotic mayor of a small town, dies. After his funeral, his body is repeatedly unearthed and buried again. Through flashbacks and dreamlike scenes, we witness his rise, power and ambiguities.
- DirectorSergei ParajanovDodo AbashidzeStarsYuri MgoyanSofiko ChiaureliRamaz ChkhikvadzeA talented but poor minstrel is forced to wander throughout the world because of impossibility to be with his true love - a rich merchant's daughter.
- DirectorSergei BodrovStarsOleg MenshikovSergey BodrovSusanna MekhraliyevaTwo Russian soldiers, one battle-seasoned and the other barely into his boots and uniform, are taken prisoner by an anxious Islamic father from a remote village hoping to trade them for his captured son.