Before Iosseliani started working on the “Favourites Of The Moon” he tried to capture on film his first impressions of the city and the people who inhabit it. In this black-and white etude of Paris, the succession of sketches - an old man leaves his home without anyone paying attention and goes to sit on a bench in the street, a man and a woman meet in a cafe, two men exchange gunshots, etc. - are interspersed with rhythmic images and sounds of the city.
Otar Iosseliani
Otar Iosseliani was born in 1934 in Tbilisi, Georgia, where he studied music composition, conducting and piano. In 1953 he went to Moscow to study mathematics, but in two years he quit and entered the State Film Institute where his teacher was among others, Alexander Dovzhenko. While still a student in film direction, he began working in Tbilisi, first as an assistant director and then as an editor of documentaries. When his medium-length film “Aprili” (1961) was denied theatrical distribution, Iosseliani abandoned filmmaking and in 1963-1965 worked first as a sailor on a fishing boat and then at a metallurgical factory. When his 1976 film “Pastorali"" was shelved for a few years and then granted only a limited distribution, Iosseliani grew skeptical about getting any artistic freedom in his homeland. In 1984 he moved to France where he made “Favorites Of The Moon”. The film was distinguished with a Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival. His films have been presented in major film festivals and have won major prizes.
