Un Petit Monastère en Toscane
Otar Iosseliani
Castelnuevo Del Abate, a Tuscan village clinging to its rocky spur. At the top of this little stone-housed cobbled-streeted village live 5 Augustinian monks: Father André, Father Étienne, Father Olivier, Father Roze and Father Jean-Charles who have come from France 5 years ago to bring the monastery back to life. From the austere universe of these monks to that of the farmers and nobles of Chianti, Otar Iosseliani has managed to portray Tuscany by filming its contrasts.
Born in Tblissi in Georgia, Otar Iosseliani interrupted his musical and scientific studies to go to the VGIK cinema school in Moscow. In his first short, "Avril" (1961), it is already possible to see in the form of a parable one of the constants of his intellectual position: his concerns about human relationships, about life. "Falling Leaves", his first feature in 1966, Fipresci Prize in Cannes, marks the beginnings of his international notoriety. Iosseliani gives us a biting satire on bureaucracy and careerism, and celebrates, with gentleness and humour, the virtues of a "real life". Afterwards most of his features were awarded prizes in many international festivals finally consecrating his work.