The Big Green Valley (Didi mtsvane veli)
Director Merab Kokochashvili (Georgia-Film
Studio, 1967).
The Big Green Valley is a neorealist fable of
the Georgian new wave cinema from the 1960’s, and it lives in the lazy
mysticism of agrarian culture just before the impending modernization that
would come after the discovery of oil in the vastness of a valley suited only
for cattle. Sosana the shepherd, the aged and anachronistic father, raises his
herd with his unhappy wife, her friend and his growing boy with whom he
displays a wonderful rapport.
The Big Green Valley is evocative of John Ford
(1894-1973) from the very title, paying homage to Ford’s earlier seminal
masterpiece, How Green Was My Valley (1941).
Director Merab Kokochashvili, screenplay Merab
Eliozishvili, director of photography Giorgi Gersamia, artistic designer Vasil
Arabidze, composer Nodar Mamisashvili. Stars: Dodo (David) Abashidze, Lia
Kapanadze, Mzia Maglakelidze, Ilia Bakakuri, Zurab Tseradze, Guram Gegeshidze,
Grigol Tkabladze.
Language: in Georgian with English subtitles.
Running time: 80 min
The screening will take place at SRH on Saturday
July 11, at 5-7pm.
Silk Road House, 1944 University Ave., Berkeley,
CA 94705 (between Milvia & Martin Luther King; enter by side door); e-mail:
silkroadhouse@gmail.com; website: www.silkroadhouse.org;
facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SilkRoadHouse
Silk Road House events are sponsored by the
Silkroad Foundation.
