Roots

In the hot summer of 1917 the nineteen year old peasant Georgy Zakareishvili leaves his village to look for work. He takes a place on a French ship and finds himself in Paris. There he marries a Frenchwoman. A modest living, his wife, his sons and a faithful friend help him bear the separation from home. By the time the chance to return comes, he is already old and cannot put the journey off. He tries to pass his love on to his grandson Georgy: he sings folk songs, teaches him Georgian, tells him about the people of his village. In the end the younger Georgy carries out his grandfather’s wish and takes his ashes home. The film tells that migration does not end with one generation. David Abashidze and Joseph Jachvliani appear in Guguli Mgeladze’s eighty seven minute film, a joint French and Soviet production, completed in 1987.