Salt for Svanetia
Live music by the Matti Bye Ensemble
Plus: TEN MINUTES IN THE MORNING (d. Aleqsandre Jaliashvili, USSR, 1930, 30 m.)
Soviet director Kalatozov’s remarkable early film documents the medieval conditions of an isolated village in the Georgian Caucasus. Cut off from the modern world by snow-choked mountain passes, the villagers are mired in patriarchal superstition, ripe for salvation by Stalin’s Five-Year Plan. Salt’s breathtaking editing and camerawork transcend the propaganda piece it was intended to be.
Special support provided by Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation
Live Music by the Matti Bye Ensemble
The Matti Bye Ensemble seeks that magical, emotional alchemy between music and images, playing a wide variety of instruments that include piano, glockenspiel, violin, musical saw and percussion. It is led by award-winning film composer Matti Bye, who has been the Swedish Film Institute’s resident silent-movie pianist since 1989. Joining Bye this year are Helena ESpvall and Laura Naukkarinen.
Image credit: Pamela Gentile
Details
Director
Mikhail Kalatazov
Country
Soviet Georgia
Year
1930
Runtime
54 min
Original Language Title
Jim Shvante
Print Source (Salt for Svanetia)
Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum
Print Source (Ten Minutes in the Morning)
National Archives of Georgia
Format
35mm