THE DAZZLING LIGHT OF SUNSET

In the Georgian city of Tsalenjikha, reporter Dariko and cameraman Kakha are always on the lookout for new material for their local television station. The viewer is able to accompany the two of them on the job, witnessing the most diverse situations and rituals: celebratory feasts, weddings, city council meetings, burials. Stages slide into focus time and again too – at a vocal performance or a fashion show, though we also observe the cleaning up that takes place after the crowd has gone. Sometimes we join Dariko and Kakha live on the scene, other times we watch over their shoulders as they review and edit footage back at the station. The omnipresence of video and photo cameras makes the fashion show appear as absurdly aesthetic as the rapid-fire exchange of campaign slogans from local politicians debating before the parliamentary elections. The video recordings reflect the state of the community and provide privileged access to individual moments of intimacy at the same time. This region seems far removed from the modern world, and yet the latter is unceasingly present here. Salomé Jashi depicts a provincial landscape and the lifestyles of its diverse inhabitants in both long shots and individual sequences that are only loosely associated with one another, assembling the delicately composed images into an unconventional portrait of a microcosm poised between tradition and transformation.