Renowned Georgian Film Director Zaza Khalvashi Passes Away

Geogia’s cherished film director Zaza Khalvashi has passed away at the age of 62.

Zaza Khalvashi was born in Batumi on May 17, 1957, in the family of the renowned poet Pridon Khalvashi. At different times he worked as the head of Batumi State Institute of Art, head of Adjara TV and Radio Department, deputy head of Adjara Resorts and Tourism Department, head of Adjara Mountainous Resource Center and ultimately, as the director of Batumi Ilia Chavchavadze State Drama Theater.

The Georgian film director is said to have died of heart attack.

Zaza Khalvashi has left us with some very distinctive works-  ‘There Were I Live’ (1990); ‘Miserere’ (1996); ‘Solomon’ (2015), and more. But perhaps the most notable is his 2017 art fantasy drama film ’Namme.’ The film starts with a seemingly straightforward story of a family engaging in a mission of taking care of a local healing water and curing sick fellow villagers with it; but we soon come to experience Khalvashi’s near-magical cinematic twists. For an artistic persona like Khalvashi, good symbols are the best arguments. Master at creating contrasts, he uses water as the omnipresent symbol of purity, beautifully juxtaposed with the intrusive, perverting industrious rhythm of everyday life. 

’Namme’ was chosen by the Georgian National Film Center’s selection committee to be the Georgia’s candidate for the Best Foreign-language Film at the 91st Oscar Academy Awards.

By Elene Dzebisaishvili