Actualités

Women From Georgia, Blind Dates, and Brighton 4th director Levan Koguashvili on chaos being cinematic: “I remember reading a book about one of my favourite directors, Robert Altman. It talked about why he likes making these group movies with separate stories.” Photo: Ed Bahlman

On December 21, 2021 the 94th Academy Awards Oscar Best International Feature Film shortlist was revealed with some notable omissions. Nora Martirosyan’s Should The Wind Drop (Si Le Vent Tombe) from Armenia; Julia Ducournau’s Titane from France; Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Memoria from Colombia; Zhang Yimou’s Cliff Walkers from China; Kira Kovalenko’s Unclenching The Fists from Russia, and Levan Koguashvili's Brighton 4th from Georgia were among those.

Levan Koguashvili with Anne-Katrin Titze: “The main concern is the cinematic quality of the story.”

The Tribeca Film Festival International Narrative Competition jury comprised of Alexander Payne, Melissa Leo, Delroy Lindo, Peter Scarlet, and Lesli Klainberg awarded Best...

Kakhi (Levan Tediashvili) with his troubled son Soso (Giorgi Tabidze) in Levan Koguashvili’s Brighton 4th, shot by Phedon Papamichael

Cinematographer Phedon Papamichael has been in great demand by filmmakers and has worked with some of the most interesting storytellers, including Levan Koguashvili on Brighton 4th. Alexander Payne, Aaron Sorkin (The Trial Of The Chicago 7), Judd Apatow (This Is 40), Oliver Stone (W.), and with James Mangold on Ford v Ferrari, Walk The Line (starring Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash), Identity, 3.10 To Yuma, and the upcoming Indiana Jones 5.

Phedon Papamichael with Anne-Katrin Titze on filming Brighton 4th: “The faces and these portraits as you say, they are very important and the Georgian faces are so expressive and so melancholic and brazed.”

From London, Phedon Papamichael took time off from his busy schedule on Indiana Jones 5 to discuss with me on Zoom his work on Georgia’s Oscar submission Brighton 4th...

In Brighton 4th, the Georgian diaspora of Brooklyn’s Brighton Beach (an area known colloquially as “Little Odessa” for its largely East European and Russian communities) provide backdrop to a touching story of father (a former champion wrestler) and son (a decent man with an indecent gambling habit). Equally warm and melancholic with a rich vein of tragicomedy, Brighton is just the second narrative from Levan Koguashvili, a Georgian filmmaker who became toast of this year’s Tribeca Film Festival when Brighton 4th took home the award for Best Film in their “International” selection, as well as Best Actor and Best Screenplay

Brighton 4th was recently announced as Georgia’s submission to the Oscars, selected over more challenging and poetic works from Alexandre Koberidze (What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?) and Déa Kulumbegashvili (Beginning). Koguashvili’s film is clearly the easiest sell, but it is good...

"Wrestle with me." Kino Lorber has unveiled an official US trailer for the film Brighton 4th, a dramedy from the country of Georgia made by filmmaker / Olympic champion Levan Tediashvili - who stars in and directs the film. This first premiered at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival earlier this year, where it won three awards - Best International Film, Best Actor, and Best Screenplay. A former Olympic wrestler from Tbilisi helps his adult son in Brighton Beach to get his life on track. A Georgian wrestler, Kakhi, arrives in Brooklyn to discover his son has a gambling debt with a local Russian mob boss. Tediashvili stars as Kakhi, with a cast including Giorgi Tabidze, Kakhi Kavsadze, Nadia Mikhalkova, Irakli Kavsadze, Tornike Bziava, and Anastasia Romashko. The film features cinematography by the talented Dp Phedon Papamichael, and is also Georgia’s official submission to the 94th Academy Awards (coming next year). This looks solid!

Kakhi (Levan Tediashvili) with his son Soso (Giorgi Tabidze) at Brooklyn’s Brighton Beach in Levan Koguashvili’s Brighton 4th, a Tribeca Film Festival highlight Photo: Kino Iberica

The Tribeca Film Festival International Narrative Competition jury comprised of Alexander Payne, Melissa Leo, Delroy Lindo, Peter Scarlet, and Lesli Klainberg awarded Best Film to Levan Koguashvili’s Brighton 4th, produced by Irakli Rodonaya, Olena Yershova, Michel Merkt, Kateryna Merkt. Best Screenplay went to Boris Frumin, and Best Actor to Levan Tediashvili.

In the first instalment of my conversation with Levan Koguashvili, we discussed his love of Italian Neorealism, working with the amazing Phedon Papamichael, Women from Georgia, Georgian painter Niko Pirosmani, Frédéric Boyer, Sophia Loren in Lady Liberty, Kakhi Kavsadze and when Georgian men sing, and the comedy of cheese.

Levan Koguashvili with Anne-Katrin Titze: “My heart for sure belongs to Italian Neorealism and all those great movies.”

When we first...

“Brighton 4th” tells a gentle, naturalistic story of parental devotion and sacrifice, unfolding mostly in the former Soviet émigré enclave of Brighton Beach, N.Y. The tragicomedy nabbed a trifecta of awards at the recent Tribeca Festival, including best international narrative feature, screenplay and actor. It marks the third fiction outing by Georgian helmer Levan Koguashvili (“Blind Dates”) and follows a former Olympic wrestling champ from Tbilisi who goes to New York to help his adult son get his life back on track. The tender screenplay by Boris Frumin captures characters living in the new world in much the same fashion as they did in the old. It also offers a touching showcase for Levan Tediashvili, a non-professional actor and real-life wrestler. Boutique art-house distributors should take a look at this festival favorite.

A preamble in Tbilisi establishes the main character, Kakhi (Tediashvili), as a kind, even-tempered, nonjudgmental problem solver...

Reflective and stoic, sometimes to a fault, Levan Koguashvili’s film “Brighton 4th” explores the hyper-masculine world of Georgian wrestlers and gamblers in Brooklyn. Featuring a ruminative performance by former Olympic wrestler Lavan Tediashvili, as Kakhi, who travels from Tbilisi to Brooklyn’s Brighton Beach to see his son Soso (Giorgi Tabidze), and try to dig him out a gambling debt, Koguashvili’s film is strongest when focusing on the eclectic immigrants that populate Brighton Beach, as well as Soso’s boarding house.

Continue reading ‘Brighton 4th’: Ruminative Character Study Explores The Georgian Community In Brighton Beach [Tribeca Review] at The Playlist.