Georgian Film Screening: There Once Was a Singing Blackbird (იყო შაშვი მგალობელი)

There Once Was a Singing Blackbird aka A Song Thrush There Was 1971. USSR. Directed by Otar Iosseliani. This is the film that made Iosseliani’s international reputation. With his trademark gentle satire and attention to cultural detail, Iosseliani is revealed as a masterful visual poet with a unique concept of narrative. There Once Was a Singing Blackbird is a wry comedy, set in Tbilisi, about a young musician who is perpetually in a hurry and late for every appointment because his life is so full of chance encounters. He cannot walk down the street without stopping to chat with a dozen friends, and every attempt to reform goes astray. On the night of the big concert he arrives in the orchestra pit just in time to play his drumroll—and then rushes off for another drink. In Georgian; English subtitles. 85 min.