Event

The Dazzling Light of Sunset

The town of Tsalenjikha (population 8,900) in western Georgia is eventful but scarcely newsworthy, a reality which broadcast journalist Dariko must confront as she attempts to report, with some journalistic objectivity, the towns droll proceedings. With her trusted cameraman in tow, Dariko tours the village in all its absurdity as well as its gravity, turning up a beauty contest for teens learning to walk in heels; an oversized owl; a wedding with deliriously drunken guests; mass in an Orthodox church; and a soldiers burial. As reportage, the versions of both Dariko and director Jashi co-mingle, creating a layered portrait of a place and its people that is gently ironic but formally exacting. The film organically questions the politics of the image as related to the representation of place; rarely do we see such localized views of the Caucasus.