Giya Kancheli is Georgia’s leading composer.

Throughout his distinguished career, Giya Kancheli has written extensively for film and theatre and collaborated with many of Georgia’s leading directors including Robert Sturua, Eldar Shengelaya and Georgi Danelia. A book of the composer’s themes for stage and screen was published in 2009, ‘Simple Music for Piano’ with drawings by Rezo Gabriadze.

BGS is celebrating Kancheli’s 75th year at London’s exciting and newest Georgian Restaurant, Tinatin Tuskadze’s Little Georgia. During the weekend, films with Kancheli scores will be screened and on Sunday evening the Georgian pianist Alisa Tavdidishvili will perform some of the 33 pieces from ‘Simple Music for Piano’ by Giya Kancheli.

Aracheveulebrivi Gamefona (An Unusual Exhibition) 1968 directed by Eldar Shengelaya, written by Rezo Gabriadze, with Guram Lortqifanidze, Valentina Telechkina and Salome Kancheli 95 minutes. 2.30pm Saturday 17 December, Downstairs at Little Georgia, DVD screening in Georgian. “A sculptor gives up the dreams of art for a dose of reality. While fathering a brood of children, he learns to find the accidental sweetness in a life of sacrificed ambitions. The film is a spiritual autobiography of the post-war generation in Soviet Georgia.” (Pam Renner)

Ar Idardo! (Don’t Grieve) 1969 directed by Giorgi Danelia, written by Rezo Gabriadze, with Vakhtang (Buba) Kikabidze, Sergo Zagariadze and Sophiko Chiaureli 80 minutes. 4.30pm Saturday 17 December, Downstairs at Little Georgia, DVD screening in Georgian. “The film that made me fall in love with Georgian cinema. A tragi-comedic tale of a country doctor and his exploits in a rugged land, where patients often pay in live chickens.” (Pam Renner)

Imber: England’s Lost Village 2004 directed by Mark Kidel, documentary, 70 minutes. 6.00pm Saturday 17 December, Downstairs at Little Georgia, DVD screening in English. A BBC4 documentary telling the unusual story of the ‘ghost’ village of Imber in the middle of Salisbury Plain, and how it formed the inspiration for Kancheli’s moving score. The film combines testimonies from surviving villagers, conversations with Kancheli in his native Tbilisi and archive footage from Imber’s past and present. Kancheli’s evocative music is woven throughout the film, culminating with its live performance in the ancient church of St Giles. The project was conceived by Jeremy Herbert, James Macdonald and Artangel.

Blue Mountains, or an Unbelievable Story (Tsisferi mtebi anu daujerebeli ambavi) 1983 directed by Eldar Shengelaya, written by Rezo Cheishvili, with Ramaz Giorgobiani, Vasil Kakhniashvili and Teimuraz Chirgadze 97 minutes. 2.30pm Sunday 18 December, Downstairs at Little Georgia, DVD screening in Georgian with English subtitles. A comically absurd tale in which a young novelist tries to get his manuscript read by his familiar publishing house, only to have it pushed aside, lost, damaged, stolen, ignored again and again as the employees go about their meaningless, repetitive work. A late-era Soviet Georgian tale where the ceiling of the publishing house is caving in – literally and metaphorically.

Mimino 1977 directed by Giorgi Danelia, written by Rezo Gabriadze, with Vakhtang Kikabidze, Frunzik Mkrtchyan and Yevgeny Leonov 97 minutes. 4.30pm Sunday 18 December, Downstairs at Little Georgia, DVD screening in Georgian/Russian with English translation. Mimino, meaning sparrow hawk in Georgian, is the nickname for a helicopter pilot working for a local airline flying between small villages. But he dreams of piloting large international aircraft and goes to Moscow for a refresher course. In the hotel in Moscow he meets an Armenian truck driver and they have various adventures. Despite fulfilling his dream and becoming a pilot of a Tupolev Tu-144 jet liner flying all over the world, he becomes homesick and finally returns to his home town of Telavi and friends and family. This popular comedy won the 1977 Golden Prize at the Moscow International Film festival.

BGS Christmas Party and Book Launch

Giya Kancheli’s

‘Simple Music for Piano’

with a recital by

Alisa Tavdidishvili

Sunday 18 December

6.30pm for 7

The new ‘Little Georgia’ 

14 Barnsbury Road, N1 0HB

£5 entrance to help cover piano hire, wine and canapes.

Optional dinner from 8.15pm – to be booked independently (0207 278 6100)

RSVP – info@britishgeorgiansociety.org

With thanks to Tinatin Tuskadze from Little Georgia, Nino Andjaparidze from Tbilisi International Film Festival, Mako Abashidze from BGCC and Marksons Piano Hire.