Life is Be
All five colorful characters in the absurdly comedic, yet tragic documentary Life is Be live in Telavi in Eastern Georgia. Two of them are Germans. One, a former fireman, who has saved a museum from burning, plays piano at the charity house. He lives in an abandoned canning factory and wants to open a chicken farm. The second German has been living without electricity for the past 20 years, so he himself invented a stove that produces electricity. He calls his half-ruined house the symbol of “the broken Soviet Union”. The third character also has a peculiar housing problem. His house is in poor condition, but it’s also considered a historic monument, protected by the government. So as soon as he tries to repair anything, he is fined by the city hall. The fourth character, a former engineer and university lecturer, just prefers to stay at home, listen to rock music and complain about life. And yet he has a dream to establish an elite pool in Telavi, so he’s in the search of the first million dollar investment. The fifth man, on the other hand, already is a successful farmer and businessman. He needs some additional force to assist him, but nobody wants to work. So he goes to a small chapel on his farm to pray for a better future.
Awards
Best Documentary, National Competition, Tbilisi IFF, Georgia, 2016
Jury Mention, Camerimage IFF, Bydgoszcz, Poland, 2017
Vakhtang Kuntsev-Gabashvili
Born in 1973, Kuntsev-Gabashvili is a Georgian director, who has made films both in Georgia and Germany. He studied at the Georgian Institute of Theater and Film after Shote Rustaveli, specializing in cinematography (1991-1993) and film direction (1993-1997), eventually graduating with honor. Later on he attended the Munich Film High School in Germany (1997-2003) after receiving a DAAD scholarship.
Filmography
The Morning Romance, 1996
Apples for Men, 1998
Place of Fairy Tales, 2001
Forgotten Portrait in Interior, 2006
Dream, 2009
Home, My Sweet Home, 2009
School of Life, 2010
Fatal Flight, 2011
Archevani, 2012
Gari Kuntsev, 2014
Imagine, 2017
Life is Be, 2016
Transparent World, 2018
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Film Details:
Georgia, 2017, 80’
in Georgian, Russian, German w/ Arm./Eng. subtitles
Director & Writer: Vakhtang Kuntsev-Gabashvili
Producer: Vakhtang Kuntsev-Gabashvili
Cinematographer: Vakhtang Kuntsev-Gabashvili
Editor: Vakhtang Kuntsev-Gabashvili
Sound: Vakhtang Kuntsev-Gabashvili
Production Company: Production Studio “Akrobat”