This short film captures the beauty of a process that has persisted since the Stone Age. Sharing one of the recurrent stylistic motifs of the Georgian documentaries shown here, an uncanny atmosphere is created by the use of post-production sound and chiaroscuro lighting. In effect, the removal of the bread from the oven is witnessed with the same sense of wonder as would greet the appearance of a flying saucer. When sticking the dough to the tandoor, the baker moves half of his body into this dungeon – an image at once frightening and mesmerising. Nowhere else has bread been seen like this, save perhaps for Night of the Living Bread (Kevin S. O’Brien, 1990). But this is hardly a parody: here the most essential human foodstuff meets an expressionist sensibility. In fact, along with Manoel de Oliveira’s O Pão (also showing this year), Khabazebi presents some of the most beautiful images of our daily bread on screen.
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Bidzina Rachvelishvili Director · Gia Badridze Screenplay Giorgi Barnaveli Cinematographer
First release April 6, 1970 · Produced in Russia · Original title ხაბაზები
Production
Georgian Telefilm
Production
Russia
Produced in
Languages
Original title
ხაბაზები
Original language
Georgian
Spoken on screen
Georgian
Release dates
Russia · April 6, 1970
Theatrical · In cinemas nationwide
No release date listed for United States.
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