Youth on the March: Falling Leaves

Youth on the March: Falling Leaves (1966)

Introduced by the director Otar Iosseliani, and screening on 35mm

First screened as part of the International Critics Week at the 1968 Cannes Film Festival, Nico, an idealistic young worker, begins work as a technician at a state-run wine collective, alongside his friend Otar. While Otar adapts seamlessly to the rules of the collective, Nico refuses to pretend that bad wine can be bottled. He also falls for Otar’s girl.  In this acutely nuanced debut, Iosseliani offers up poignant observations about work, romance and bureaucracy.  It is not only a moral tale of an individual resisting oppression, but also a complex meditation on factory life, disappearing rural traditions and Georgian history.

Youth on the March is a season presented by Kino Klassika.