Arsenishvili Vano

Altzaney
People of Pankisi Gorge believe that all important issues of their life and death should be solved through mediation of a favored authority. Altzaney is the woman, who interferes into other people's lives and takes responsibility for that. She mediates between conflicting sides and the two worlds as well. Altzaney is the only woman trusted to take care of the dead. What makes her so distinguished and authoritative in a totally patriarchal environment and what is the price one has to pay for it? "Altzaney" gives an insight into a unique community of Pankisi Gorge.

English Teacher
Young, enthusiastic “English teacher” arrives to Georgia to be part of a “linguistic revolution” in the country. He is one of thousand English speakers sent all over Georgia under the Georgian president’s initiative to teach English every school child. The project is part of country’s policy to make rapid transition from the Post Soviet to European country and get rid of Russia’s influence. The teacher is determined to change a village, but then the village changes him.

See You In Chechnya
If you go to war, you will bring that war home with you... This film is about a part of my life. It tells a story of a very intense and enthralling phase I went through in my twenties, involving people who remain in my memory, as individuals who helped me become who I am today. I met these people in my home country, Georgia, but what interested them was hidden on the other side of the Caucasus Mountains; it was the war in neighboring Chechnya. All we Georgians knew about the country of Chechnya was that it was a kind of hell on earth, a terrifying place where Islamic fundamentalists played football with journalists’ severed heads. It was highly unlikely that I would ever go there. But I did. I did it for the sake of love. My accidental meeting with a charming French lady, who turned out to be a war photographer, was the beginning of placing myself in a journey full of extreme experiences and also in touch with people who were exploring the meaning of life. As I reflect on the motives which drove these people – people I knew and admired – to risk everything to tell the world what was happening in this inhospitable mountain enclave, I offer a fascinating insight into the peculiar psychology of war reporters: contemporary heroes whose business is representing war and death, and who have to face their own mortality every time they go to work.

Vano Arsenishvili is a film director, cinematographer and editor. After Graduating from the Cinema and Film institute in Tbilisi, he has studied at the Vienna Film Academy – film directing class. He has directed several short films and documentaries. Since 2004 Vano worked for Television Production in Georgia on reality shows and documentaries. Occasionally work as project consultant/editor on different media projects/documentary or fiction films. In 2008 established Artefact Production. Since then works on documentary film production (directing, editing, filming, web design). His latest film Altzaney was nominated for prizes at a number of international film festivals including DOK Leipzig.