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| Copyright 2004 |
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- Historical
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- Tbilisi
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Back in 1991 in Tokyo, It was directed by a man named Sergei Paradjanov, an ethnic Armenian born and raised in Tbilisi, Georgia. Colors, sounds, faces, shapes and compositions-- every element pushed my button and I was knocked out and hooked. What kind of place would produce an artist like Paradjanov?? Armenia and Georgia became my dream place. There was another artist who inspired my trip, again introduced by a film. The artist is Niko Pirosmani (1862-1918) and the film, "Pirosmani" (directed by Giorgi Shengelaya), told the real life story of this talented but eccentric and poor-strike Georgian painter. I loved the film and loved the work of Pirosmani. I only saw a very limited selection of films from the region, but the quality and originality of these works were striking and they became some of my all time favorites. Georgia was one of the biggest film center of USSR and produced such masterpieces like "Repentance" (Tengiz Abuladze) and the director Otar Ioseliani. Another masterpiece, the most original and obscure yet brilliant sci-fi film ever made, "Kin Dza Dza!" (Georgi Daneliya), is also a Georgian product. Canadian director Atom Egoyan is Armenian origin and made some Armenian related films. One is "Calendar" in which beautiful monasteries in the country side were captured along with the haunting sound of Duduk, a flute used in Armenian traditional music. So the mission was set; to visit the Paradjanov museum in Yerevan, the Armenian capital and see Pirosmani's paintings in Tbilisi, the Georgian capital --and just to be there and feel what it is like.
In mid-2003, the political situation in Georgia was indeed shaky, to say the least, and Armenia's disputed nuclear plants seemed like it could burst anytime, but there were enough evidence from fellow travelers that the trip was possible (big thanks to Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree site.) Both countries required visa and neither country had an embassy in Japan. Armenia has the super efficient "e-visa" system where it was all processed on-line, which worked beautifully. Georgia maintained the old system which requested "a letter of invitation" for a tourist visa, but it looked an travel agent in Yerevan could do this. Tickets were easily arranged in Tokyo. The carrier was Austrian Air who started flights to South Caucasus from Vienna in recent years, (which was another encouraging sign.) The itinerary was: The flight was only 3.5 hours. I arrived in Yerevan 3:40am. Process took long, but there were no problem. Getting into Georgia took a bit more patient, preparation and a whole lot of courage, but again, no trouble after all. Visa ended up costing me close to $100 and several visits to the super unfriendly Georgian Consulate in Yerevan. The Yerevan-Tbilisi border crossing trip took 8 hours in the bus whose all tires felt flat on a road that looked more like swiss cheese. Maybe I got to peek the last phase of the old system of these countries: Armenia is going through major reforms. And Georgia went through the Rose Revolution in which then re-elected president Shevardnadze was ousted by a peaceful demonstration only a month after I left. Now in 2004, the new president Mikhail Saakashvili was elected.
I hope you'll enjoy the images, and please let me know if there is any correction or thought on the subject. Reference: January 2004,
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