The Presidential Library’s Cinema Club meeting was dedicated to a film about the capital city of Georgia

The film The Song of Tbilisi was discussed at the regular meeting of the Cinema Club in the Presidential Library. Lev Sidorovsky, a well-known journalist, laureate of international and All-Union competitions, Honored Cultural Worker of Russia, whose name was given to one of the minor planets of the Solar System, presented it. A screenwriter, cameraman, and director of the film Lev Sidorovsky accompanied it with interesting commentaries.

“This is my 54th film”, said Lev Sidorovsky before the film show. – I occasionally travelled to Tbilisi when I was a young man, and I was fascinated by this city. I prepared thoroughly for the trip, studied books and maps. This helped me to discover the unique cultural environment of the Georgian capital. Now, years later, I seemed to have returned to an old friend of mine, but I must admit that walking around the city with a camera was not easy. The locals say "All roads in Tbilisi run uphill ...". Can you imagine my joy when I found the streets named after Georgy Tovstonogov, Anatoly Sobchak. After all, all street name plates are in Georgian. But my faithful friends and journalistic persistence helped me.

Lev Sidorovsky acquaints viewers with Tbilisi by presenting its unique ethnic group, people who achieved worldwide recognition, like Pirosmani, Tabidze, Iosseliani, Parajanov, Daneliya, Chiaureli ... The list is long, and in the film this gallery of portraits is accompanied by the narrator’s short, but informative characteristics.

Lev Sidorovsky pays special attention to city monuments dedicated to prominent cultural figures. They catch your eye, their style is different from each other and it is a pleasure to take your time studying them. Of particular interest is a stele with a relief of the philosopher Merab Mamardashvili. You can hear quotes from his works in the film.

The theme of wars, both of past epochs and military conflicts of present days, is also highlighted in the film, e.g. the portrait of Meliton Kantaria, who hoisted the flag over the Reichstag.

An amazing city appears on the screen, very contradictory, with a tragic fate. The past merging with the present imparts subtle but very special features to it. The city, which unites different centuries, cultures and tastes, lies on the banks of the Kura River and is surrounded by incredibly beautiful landscape. The city itself, its unique silhouette with "honeycombs" of motley houses on mountain slopes, became not only an impressive background of the story, but also its main character.

The Song of Tbilisi is a very personal lyrical story about the city, which was accurately described by Yevgeny Yevtushenko.

The narrator says: “There is nowhere else that the residents loved me so much as in Tbilisi, and I loved them!” - And, perhaps, this is the most important thing said about Tbilisi.