Returning to Life is the life story of a woman seen from the early 20th century to the 60s. The story of a girl born into a rural teacher's family in Saingilo, who received her philosophical education in Germany, became a film director and made documentaries and feature films. But it all ended abruptly in the years of the Stalinist terror. The woman was arrested and deported. Her films were nearly lost. But 80 years later, they are back on screens and are recognised in festivals across the country. For her daughter, this documentary is an act of returning her mother to life.

"I wanted to make this film from the time when, after many searches, we found my mother's faded films in the Russian archives. The theme of my film represents the story of a woman who was struck by the cataclysms of an entire century. It is, on the one hand, very typical for the Soviet reality of the time; after all, millions of women were then captured and deported as ‘members of the family of the enemy of the people’. On the other hand, this story is distinguished because my mother was the first female director in Georgia and one of the first female directors in the Soviet Union. Her films were banned by Soviet censors, but after 80 years of being lost, they returned to the history of cinema and are receiving the attention of the world film community", Lana Gogoberidze told FNE.

The film, which is fully based on archive materials, is produced by Akaki Togonidze and Salome Alexi-Meskhishvili through Georgia’s 3003 Film Production. The project was supported by the Georgian National Film Center (GNFC) with 21,695 EUR / 78,572 GEL in 2021. The total budget is 39,000 EUR / 124,305 GEL.

"In addition to archive films and photos, the film will frequently rely on film footage. Obviously, first of all, from Nutsa Gogoberidze's films, but at the same time, I use a lot of scenes from my own films, which depict different moments in the life of a child left without a mother. I hope the story about the power of art is interesting to the public. That is, the film must once again convince us of the truth that manuscripts do not burn", Gogoberidze also said.

The estimated date of completion of the film is November / December 2022.

Lana Gogoberidze graduated from the Tbilisi State University in 1953 and from the Moscow State University of Cinematography in 1958. She directed nine feature and four documentary films including I See the Sun (1964), When Almonds Blossom (1972), Some Interviews on Personal Matters (1978), Day Is Longer than Night (1984), and Valse on Pecora River (1991), all of them produced by Georgian Film.

Production Information:

Producer:
3003 Film Production (Georgia)
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Credits:
Director: Lana Gogoberidze