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The Most Famous

FILM DIRECTORS from Georgia

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This page contains a list of the greatest Georgian Film Directors. The pantheon dataset contains 1,581 Film Directors, 13 of which were born in Georgia. This makes Georgia the birth place of the 22nd most number of Film Directors behind South Korea and Argentina.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Georgian Film Directors of all time. This list of famous Georgian Film Directors is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Georgian Film Directors.

Photo of Sergei Parajanov

1. Sergei Parajanov (1924 - 1990)

With an HPI of 65.92, Sergei Parajanov is the most famous Georgian Film Director.  His biography has been translated into 45 different languages on wikipedia.

Sergei Iosifovich Parajanov (born Sarkis Hovsepi Parajaniants; January 9, 1924 – July 20, 1990) was an Armenian film director and screenwriter. Parajanov is regarded by film critics, film historians and filmmakers to be one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in cinema history.Parajanov invented his own cinematic style, which was out of step with the guiding principles of socialist realism; the only sanctioned art style in the USSR. This, combined with his lifestyle and behaviour, led Soviet authorities to repeatedly persecute and imprison him, and suppress his films. Despite this, Parajanov was named one of the 20 Film Directors of the Future by the Rotterdam International Film Festival, and his films were ranked among the greatest films of all time by Sight & Sound.Although he started professional film-making in 1954, Parajanov later disowned all the films he made before 1965 as "garbage". After directing Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, Parajanov became both internationally recognized as well as a target of attacks from the USSR. Nearly all of his film projects and plans from 1965 to 1973 were banned, scrapped or closed by the Soviet film administrations, both local (in Kyiv and Yerevan) and federal (Goskino), almost without discussion, until he was finally arrested in late 1973 on false charges of rape, homosexuality and bribery. He was imprisoned until 1977, despite pleas for pardon from various artists. Even after his release (he was arrested for the third and last time in 1982), he was a persona non grata in Soviet cinema. It was not until the mid-1980s, when the political climate started to relax, that he could resume directing. Still, it required the help of influential Georgian actor Dodo Abashidze and other friends to have his last feature films greenlighted. His health seriously weakened after four years in labor camps and nine months in prison in Tbilisi. Parajanov died of lung cancer in 1990, at a time when, after almost 20 years of suppression, his films were being featured at foreign film festivals. In a 1988 interview he stated that, "Everyone knows that I have three Motherlands. I was born in Georgia, worked in Ukraine and I'm going to die in Armenia." Parajanov is buried at Komitas Pantheon in Yerevan.Parajanov's films won prizes at Mar del Plata Film Festival, Istanbul International Film Festival, Nika Awards, Rotterdam International Film Festival, Sitges - Catalan International Film Festival, São Paulo International Film Festival and others. A comprehensive retrospective in the UK took place in 2010 at BFI Southbank. The retrospective was curated by Layla Alexander-Garrett and Parajanov specialist Elisabetta Fabrizi who commissioned a Parajanov-inspired new commission in the BFI Gallery by contemporary artist Matt Collishaw ('Retrospectre'). A symposium was dedicated to Parajanov's work bringing together experts to discuss and celebrate the director's contribution to cinema and art.

Photo of Mikhail Kalatozov

2. Mikhail Kalatozov (1903 - 1973)

With an HPI of 58.76, Mikhail Kalatozov is the 2nd most famous Georgian Film Director.  His biography has been translated into 32 different languages.

Mikhail Konstantinovich Kalatozov (Georgian: მიხეილ კალატოზიშვილი, Russian: Михаил Константинович Калатозов; 28 December 1903 – 26 March 1973), born Mikheil Kalatozishvili, was a Soviet film director of Georgian origin who contributed to both Georgian and Russian cinema. He is most well known for his films The Cranes Are Flying and I Am Cuba. In 1969, he was named a People's Artist of the USSR. His film The Cranes Are Flying won the Palme d'Or at the 1958 Cannes Film Festival.

Photo of Otar Iosseliani

3. Otar Iosseliani (1934 - 2023)

With an HPI of 57.78, Otar Iosseliani is the 3rd most famous Georgian Film Director.  His biography has been translated into 32 different languages.

Otar Iosseliani (Georgian: ოთარ იოსელიანი otar ioseliani; 2 February 1934 – 17 December 2023) was a Georgian film director, known for movies such as Falling Leaves, Pastorale and Favourites of the Moon. Iosseliani received a lifetime achievement honor – the CineMerit Award at the Munich International Film Festival in 2011 for his career accomplishments.

Photo of Rouben Mamoulian

4. Rouben Mamoulian (1897 - 1987)

With an HPI of 57.68, Rouben Mamoulian is the 4th most famous Georgian Film Director.  His biography has been translated into 34 different languages.

Rouben Zachary Mamoulian ( roo-BEN mah-mool-YAHN; Armenian: Ռուբէն Մամուլեան; October 8, 1897 – December 4, 1987) was an American film and theater director.

Photo of Tengiz Abuladze

5. Tengiz Abuladze (1924 - 1994)

With an HPI of 56.86, Tengiz Abuladze is the 5th most famous Georgian Film Director.  His biography has been translated into 32 different languages.

Tengiz Abuladze (Georgian: თენგიზ აბულაძე; 31 January 1924 – 6 March 1994) was a Georgian film director, screenwriter, theatre teacher and People's Artist of the USSR. He is regarded as one of the best Soviet directors.

Photo of Georgiy Daneliya

6. Georgiy Daneliya (1930 - 2019)

With an HPI of 55.70, Georgiy Daneliya is the 6th most famous Georgian Film Director.  His biography has been translated into 40 different languages.

Georgiy Nikolayevich Daneliya (Georgian: გიორგი ნიკოლოზის ძე დანელია; Russian: Георгий Николаевич Данелия; 25 August 1930 – 4 April 2019), also known as Giya Daneliya (Georgian: გია დანელია), was a Soviet and Russian film director and screenwriter of Georgian origin. He was named a People's Artist of the USSR in 1989 and a laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation in 1997.

Photo of Marlen Khutsiev

7. Marlen Khutsiev (1925 - 2019)

With an HPI of 47.71, Marlen Khutsiev is the 7th most famous Georgian Film Director.  Her biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Marlen Martynovich Khutsiev (Russian: Марле́н Марты́нович Хуци́ев; 4 October 1925 – 19 March 2019) was a Georgian-born Soviet and Russian filmmaker best known for his cult films from the 1960s, which include I Am Twenty and July Rain. He was named a People's Artist of the USSR in 1986.

Photo of Kote Marjanishvili

8. Kote Marjanishvili (1872 - 1933)

With an HPI of 47.18, Kote Marjanishvili is the 8th most famous Georgian Film Director.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Konstantine "Kote" Marjanishvili (Georgian: კონსტანტინე (კოტე) მარჯანიშვილი), also known by the Russified name Konstantin Aleksandrovich Mardzhanov (Russian: Константи́н Алекса́ндрович Марджанов) (May 28, 1872 – April 17, 1933), was a Georgian theater director regarded as an important contributor to the pre- and post-revolutionary evolution of Georgian, Russian and Soviet stages. One of the most prestigious and professional of Georgia’s directors, he was particularly famous for his lavish and massive theater shows.

Photo of Revaz Chkheidze

9. Revaz Chkheidze (1926 - 2015)

With an HPI of 46.88, Revaz Chkheidze is the 9th most famous Georgian Film Director.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Revaz "Rezo" Chkheidze (Georgian: რევაზ "რეზო" ჩხეიძე; 8 December 1926 – 3 May 2015) was a Georgian film director, People's Artist of the USSR, best known for his Soviet-era drama films, including his 1964 World War II-themed Father of a Soldier.

Photo of Nana Jorjadze

10. Nana Jorjadze (1948 - )

With an HPI of 46.75, Nana Jorjadze is the 10th most famous Georgian Film Director.  Her biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Nana Jorjadze (Georgian: ნანა ჯორჯაძე; born 24 August 1948) is an Academy Award nominated film director, scriptwriter and actress.Jorjadze was born in Tbilisi, and graduated first from a local musical school (1966), and then from the architectural department at the Tbilisi State Academy of Fine Arts (1972). Having worked as an architect in the years 1968 to 1974, she enrolled in the Tbilisi State Theatre Institute which she completed in 1980. She debuted as an actress with the film Some Interviews on Personal Matters in 1977; and as a director with A Journey to Sopot in 1979. Her 1987 work Robinsonada or My English Grandfather was a breakthrough that won her the Caméra d'Or at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival, and both critical and popular acclaim. She moved to France early in the 1990s and directed several films including A Chef in Love (1996) which became the first, and so far the only, Georgian film to be nominated for the Academy Award.She is married to fellow Georgian writer and director Irakli Kvirikadze, who previously went by the name Irakli Mikhailovich Kvirikadze.

Pantheon has 13 people classified as film directors born between 1872 and 1965. Of these 13, 1 (7.69%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living film directors include Nana Jorjadze. The most famous deceased film directors include Sergei Parajanov, Mikhail Kalatozov, and Otar Iosseliani. As of April 2022, 2 new film directors have been added to Pantheon including Georgy Tovstonogov and Lev Kulidzhanov.

Living Film Directors

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Deceased Film Directors

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Newly Added Film Directors (2022)

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Which Film Directors were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 12 most globally memorable Film Directors since 1700.