Falling Leaves (New Restoration)

Winner of the FIPRESCI Prize at Cannes in 1968, Falling Leaves introduced the world to the blossoming New Georgian Cinema, and marked the debut feature of its preeminent director, Otar Iosseliani. Combining flights of poetic reverie with verité-like documentation of the streets of Tbilisi, the film follows the misadventures of a young man, Niko (Ramaz Giorgobiani), fresh from winemaking school, as he begins his apprenticeship at an agricultural cooperative. There, forced into the drudgeries of the adult world, he becomes smitten with his coworker and comes face-to-face with a plot to cover-up a deficient batch of wine. The young idealist must decide whether to stand by his principles or capitulate. A seminal satire and a touching ode to youthful naivete, Falling Leaves remains a stunning introduction to the irreverent cinema of Iosseliani. (Otar Iosseliani, Georgia, 1966, 96 min.) In Georgian and Russian with English subtitles