11-12-2020

OBITUARY: Aleksandre (Sasha) Rekhviashvili

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    TBILISI: Georgian classic film director, cinematographer and writer Aleksandre (Sasha) Rekhviahsvili died on 10 December 2020 at the age of 82. The premiere of his last film, the documentary Reviving the Past, whose filming lasted 17 years (2002-2019), was held in Georgia in May 2019

    Aleksandre (Sasha) RekhviashviliAleksandre Rekhviashvili was born in 1938 in Moscow. He was a unique example of Georgian cinema of the 60s, who started his career as a cinematographer, working on masterpieces such as Giorgi Shengelaia's feature films – Alaverdoba (1962) and Pirosman (1969). After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Rekhviashvili was unable to adjust to the recent economic situation and obtain funding, which prevented him from working actively. He is known for his feature films Green Meadow (1974), The 19th Century Georgian Chronicle (1979), The Way Home (1981), The Step (1986) and Coming Closer (1989, all of them produced by Georgian Film). From 2000 Rekviashvili moved into directing documentaries: Russian Palestine (2000, produced by AMA), Igor Sanovich, Outlines for a Portrait (2008, produced by ‘Independent Film Project’ film studio), Ramaz Chkhikvadze (2015, produced by Rati Rekhviashvili, Gia Bazghadze and Konstantine Luziniani) and Reviving the Past (2019, produced by Rati Rekhviashvili).

    Rekhviashvili was a member of the Georgian Film Academy and a lecturer in film directing at the Shota Rustaveli Theatre and Film Georgia State University. He received numerous international and local prizes, including the Grand Prix and Fipresci Prize of the International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg, the German Catholic Church Prize, the Munich International Film Festival Prize, and the Mikheil Tumanishvili Prize.