Some Interviews on Personal Matters

Tbilisi, Georgia, in the 1970s. Sofiko works as a journalist for a newspaper as well as keeping her household running. She writes on social and personal issues based on interviews. She listens to women’s stories of loneliness, marital problems and their struggle for survival. Initially, she manages to maintain some distance, yet as she is increasingly confronted with herself, she begins to realise she has more in common with the women she interviews than she would ever be willing to admit. Ultimately, she faces a choice that will determine the rest of her life.

Lana Gogoberidze reveals the interconnections between the personal and the political with great sensitivity. This is reflected by Sofiko’s memories of her mother and the latter’s sudden disappearance (she was sent to a Gulag), something no child has a chance of understanding.

Revolutionary

Lana Gogoberidze (1928) is one of the most important film directors in Georgia. She wrote the screenplay with actress Sofiko Tsjiaoereli in mind. This revolutionary, feminist Soviet film is an unbelievably intelligent, subtle and realistic impression that provides audiences with a look behind the scenes at the lives of many women living in the Soviet Union without overdramatising matters.

This film’s original distributor Feministisch Filmkollektief Cinemien was ground-breaking when it came to raising the visibility of female filmmakers including those from the Global South.