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In Conversation

My films are my biography - Nana Jorjadze

The in-conversation session, held as part of the 29th IFFK, featured acclaimed Georgian filmmaker Nana Jorjadze. She shared her cinematic journey in a thoughtful conversation with Aditya Shrikrishna.

Her love for storytelling took root early, as she grew up watching films and dreaming of making her own. "Growing up in Soviet Georgia, opportunities for aspiring filmmakers were scarce," she shared. "There was no film institute in Georgia then." However, Georgia's cinematic legacy is profound. "The first cinema in Georgia dates back to 1906, and interestingly, the first filmmaker and cinematographer were women," she pointed out.

Jorjadze's films are inseparable from magic realism, a philosophy that she carries through both her art and her life. "My entire life is magic realism. Sometimes, I struggle to find the border between real life and my imagination." This history paved the way for generations of storytellers, and today, Georgia's younger filmmakers, particularly documentarians, continue to carry forward that tradition with their fresh perspectives.

"Often, my imagination feels more real than reality," she confessed. Whether it's "Chef in Love" or "27 Missing Cases," her stories are rooted in real life, drawing from memories of her grandparents, tales from her neighbours, or her own lived experiences, all imbued with a sense of the magical. Even mundane moments, such as seeing a London-to-Delhi telegraph pole, can evoke layers of memory that seep into her films. For Jorjadze, the line between life and art is blurred. "My films are my biography," she said, underscoring the deeply personal nature of her storytelling.

She also revealed how improvisation is central to her filmmaking process. "All my films are improvised multiple times," she shared, allowing her stories to evolve organically. She believes that while politics and systems may come and go, certain things endure. "Communism can disappear, but good food will stay. Politics will come and go, but culture, hope, and food are forever."

Her love for cinema extends to her admiration for Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini, whose work has deeply influenced her. "Loneliness is something that Fellini and I discussed when we met," she shared, noting her connection to the emotional honesty of Italian neorealism. While Jorjadze appreciates films of all kinds, she remains drawn to works that evoke a strong emotional truth, even if the style feels distant from her own.

Through her words and films, Nana Jorjadze reveals herself as both a realist and a dreamer. She sees magic in life's smallest details, transforming struggles and memories into art that transcends boundaries. "I always try to see some magic even in reality. I cannot imagine films without magic," she mused. For Jorjadze, the act of filmmaking is not just about storytelling; it is about capturing life's fleeting, magical essence and offering it as a shared experience to the world.