Cinema Can Do Distribution: Chantrapas

Arsenal Distribution distributes the entire oeuvre of Otar Iosseliani, Georgia’s most significant filmmaker. He had special links to Arsenal and was our guest at Arsenal and the Forum on several occasions. He had to cancel his trip to Berlin last September at the last minute due to health reasons. A few months later, Otar Iosseliani died. The screening of his penultimate film CHANTRAPAS, which didn’t receive a cinema release in Germany and is seldom screened, is at once a way of remembering Iosseliani and expressing reverence for his unique grasp of filmmaking. The autobiographically-tinged story revolves around an idiosyncratic Georgian director who insists on free artistic expression against the Soviet authorities. As he doesn’t conform to the rules, the party refuses to allow his films to be released. He emigrates to France and is soon meets new oppositions: the censorship of money. (hjf)