At the Golden Apricot Georgi Ovashvili’s tragic movie “The other side” was showed, the hero of which is a young refugee boy, who became victim as a result of the Georgian – Abkhazian – Russian conflict. Tedo decided to go to his family village despite everybody’s warnings that it’s very dangerous and he may die. During his journey many revelations come about. The boy changes and becomes more mature. The viewers believe that this movie is one of those pseudo-intellectual ones, who have a major impact for a long time. And honestly among many Armenian a harmless jealousy was created. This was one of the stories that could have been filmed by us years ago and could have been released as the NKR theme and publicized it to the rest of the world. It could have been possible if we had professionals like the Georgian filmmaker had. Moreover, this film was the debut of Ovashvili, which hadn’t been shoed in Georgia yet.
– Georgi, wasn’t this theme risky? We, for example, think that in order to film a movie on the NKR war we need to first of all digest the pain, which hasn’t been happening for the past 20 years. But you made a movie about a hot theme.
– Indeed, the movie is not a newspaper to quickly react to the conflict theme. One should touch upon this theme very carefully. From the very beginning you should understand that no matter what you do your film is going to create negative reaction as well. When the both sides are there it is hard to be in the middle. But my objective was to be in the middle.
– Such a correct explanation doesn’t exclude your actual attitude because the film shows it all…
– It should be the opinion of the audience but I as an author don’t have the right to impose this to you. I am not mentioning any names of the guilty ones. This is a film about my fatherland and in this case there is no difference what nationalities live here – Georgians, Abkhazians, Mengrels, Ossetians or Armenians. That is what I feel.
– Although there is a lot of pain in the movie but there is also humor, which is always present in Georgian movies.
– I tried to demonstrate the life the way it is. In my life the happiness and the sadness are always next to each other. Unfortunately in my and your reality the sadness prevails.
– Have the Europeans financially invested in the film?
– The film was supported by the National Cinema Center of Georgia and by a Khazakh investor. We have numerously applied to European funds but were rejected due to various reasons. I don’t know what the actual reason was but they all refused to participate in this project.
– Was the filmed showed in Russia?
– It was showed in the competition of Moscow Euphoria in the framework of the cinema festival of Moscow. This festival is organized by a famous Russian film critic Andrey Plakhov. I wasn’t in Moscow but they told me that the film was perceived very emotionally.
– In your movie the Russian soldier kills a Georgian. I think you understand that in Russia and even Armenia this movie cannot receive an award because there are political mechanisms. Isn’t this offending?
I find the insult wrong but perfectly understand how my film is going to be perceived in various countries. For example, recently it was showed in Serbia and didn’t have the reaction that I’d wish for. I am sure that the film was perceived warmly because of our historical similarities. In fact, any conflict is solved not during official meetings of the leadership of the two sides but due to cultural and personal steps. The human factor always has an immense effect. And the episode of the murder of the Georgian in fact took place. The peacekeeping Russian soldier shot at the Georgian soldier when he found he couldn’t pay several rubles for the sack of flour. Of course, this was a very sad story but if you paid attention I showed that this Russian soldier is also a victim. Even I stressed that he is the main victim because he doesn’t understand what he’s doing there. The murder takes place on the bridge, under which is only water. I have done this on purpose to say that this point is not real as it is built on water and not land. The viewer should understand the real context.
– The hero of your film is a child but the villagers, soldiers and passersby that are surrounding him are thoroughly elaborated roles, which show that it is us. I want to thank you for that.
– I am glad to hear this. In general I always spend time on casting and the film required immense preparation.
– In Armenia it is a really serious issue to find a good scene writer. How is it in the Georgian cinema?
We have the same picture. It is very hard to find a scene writer, who understands what you want. There are many stories but no writers. I am very sorry that the scene writer of my movie recently died and we left our next film incomplete. We wanted to film a movie about enemies, who are in a closed space, who first hate each other but later fall in love and have babies.
– Is there any possibility that you may think about the creation of a joint Armenian-Georgian film?
– I’d love to take this step. Our region is full of such conflicts. The Caucasus literally shakes because of such conflicts. What can we do? We live on this land and have to understand each other. Perhaps I am an idealist but do believe that it’s possible to live on this land and not shoot at each other. There are cases when the sons of the same mother steal things from each other but don’t quit being considered brothers. We want it or not but we have to live next to each other.