So excited Tarzan’s Testicles has been chosen by students across our continent as the only documentary among the 5 films nominated for the European University Film Award! The nominated films will be viewed and discussed in 23 universities in 23 countries and each institution will select its favourite film. In early December, one student representative … More “T’s T” to be screened in 23 universities!
Tarzan’s Testicles is among the 15 documentaries selected for a nomination for this year’s European Film Awards. EFA Members will now vote for five documentary nominations. Based on these nominations, the EFA Members will then elect the ‘European Documentary 2018’ which will be announced during the awards ceremony on 15 December in Seville. For more information … More Selected for the European Film Awards
Wednesday, Tarzan’s T. was screened in the inciting and friendly Cork Film Festival. The venue was the former Christchurch, today the Triskel Cultural Centre. The audience sits in benches, the organ is still there, but instead of the altar – there’s a screen. I found it a very appropriate place for our film, since religion … More Tarzan Goes to Church. In Cork.
“Tarzan’s Testicles” has been screened last night at the Pravo Ljudski Festival in Sarajevo. It was screened after Eisenstein’s “October”, in its beautiful remastered version with Edmund Meisel’s music. A daring and wise programming has put together the Revolution’s avant-garde monumental representation and the ruins of the same Revolution, as seen in Abkhazia 100 years … More The October Revolution. In Sarajevo.
Dear Zinaida Vsevolodovna, I remember when I first visited you at the Institute, in August 2011. You were 83 and picked up a book from a shelf in your office. It was called “The Formula of Life”. Your office was full of books, scientific but also literary. You were – as always – busy day … More Letter to Zinaida Vsevolodovna
“Our female colleagues are away, solving the demographic problem in Abkhazia”. This is one of the sentences I heard very often at the Institute. I was told many of the young women from the staff were on maternal leave. Indeed, the country badly needs to be repopulated. Half of the people vanished or fled during … More Mothers
In each film I made, there was (at least) one failed experiment. While making Tarzan’s Testicles, I had this idea of filming from inside the cages, to emulate somehow what monkeys see and look at people from beyond the bars. So we placed the camera for several days inside one of the free cages and we stayed … More The Caged Camera
We first met Chichiko when we went down to film in September-October 2015. He was a couple of months old then and Tania was very happy to show him around to the tourists roaming in the park of the Primate Institute. Chichiko was probably the 12th or 13th monkey that Tania has raised at home, … More Chichiko. The Superstar.
Making documentaries involves living together with your characters. It implies a lot of waiting, since the people you want to film can offer only parts of their lives to the camera. Often, your characters treat you as guests – you are guests into their lives. In a country like Abkhazia – and generally in the … More Waiting, Drinking and Filming
As soon as I visited the monkey colony in Sukhum, I felt death is a constant presence. The monkey’s life cycle is shorter, so it happens – now and then – that one of the cages remains empty. In those six years I worked on the film, some great characters disappeared, like The Professor or … More The Unseen: Birth and Death
Tarzan's Testicles 