On the Hills of Georgia
Cinematic Poetry

This poetic short film based on Alexander Pushkin’s poem “On the Hills of Georgia” was created as part of the Cinematic Poetry project, founded by Distinguished Artist of the Russian Federation Anatoly Bely.

Filming took place in the foothills of the Georgian Kazbek, but the actor who had initially been cast in the leading role could not take part in the process due to a sudden onset of altitude sickness. Instead, our director of photography Alexander Polishchuk donned the lyric hero’s clothing, while the focus of the camera was switched to an over the shoulder shot. Meanwhile, scenes with famous Russian actor Artur Smolyaninov were shot in Moscow.

We wanted audiences to decide for themselves to whom the poem’s declaration of love was addressed: a woman or the Georgian landscape? We let them feel how closely one love was tied to the other, and how the stories of people and their feelings are closely tied to the place where they are experienced.

The film was nominated for the Kinotavr Festival (2018) and was featured in the 2nd International Gorky Fest Film Festival, Dvizhenie (2017) and Vostok-Zapad (2017)

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Georgia. 2018