24 Best Georgian Movies: From Soviet Era to New Wave

Georgian Movies often turn everyday life into a quiet moral trial. You can feel it in the haunting allegory of Repentance, the humane tension of Tangerines, and the deadpan office absurdity of Blue Mountains, or Unbelievable Story. This national cinema is known for sharp satire, tender humanism, and poetry that arrives without warning. It returns to family pressure, civic conscience, and the friction between tradition and personal freedom. The humor can be gentle, then suddenly razor-edged. Faces do a lot of the talking. Nothing is wasted on the screen.

Use this guide as a map through films from Georgia by mood, era, and intensity. Each entry gives you a quick snapshot—year, director, genre, tone, suitability, and an IMDb rating—so you can choose with confidence. Some picks are intimate and modern, others are mythic and symbolic, and a few are war stories built around restraint. Choose your lane, then commit. Newcomers can start with character-driven dramas, while cinephiles may want the formal experiments and classic satires. This is Georgian cinema with clear signposts. Press play with purpose.

How we picked Georgian Movies

We aimed for a balanced portrait across decades, from contemporary breakthroughs to Soviet-era films and landmark classics, while keeping the viewing experience readable and varied across comedy, war stories, and intimate art-house drama. We prioritized craft, cultural impact, and rewatch value, and we included both city stories set in Tbilisi and rural tales shaped by landscape and custom. Only titles with an IMDb rating of 6.5/10 or above were considered, and the ranking climbs from the lowest qualifying score at #24 to the highest at #1. All IMDb ratings in this article were verified on 17 February 2026.

24. Beginning (2020)

• Actors: Ia Sukhitashvili, Rati Oneli, Kakha Kintsurashvili
• Director: Dea Kulumbegashvili
• Genre: drama
• Tone: austere, unsettling
• Suitable for: adults only
• IMDb rating: 6.6/10

A woman in a small religious community watches her life tighten after a violent disruption. The story follows routines that begin to feel like a cage rather than comfort. It explores power, silence, and how a community can protect itself by pretending nothing happened. The emotions are restrained, but the pressure keeps rising. The camera holds. It refuses relief. This film earns its place for its rigor and nerve, even when it is hard to sit with. Best for viewers in a serious mood who want slow-burn tension and can handle heavy material.

23. Scary Mother (2017)

• Actors: Nata Murvanidze, Dimitri Tatishvili, Ramaz Chkhikvadze
• Director: Ana Urushadze
• Genre: drama
• Tone: surreal, darkly comic
• Suitable for: adults
• IMDb rating: 6.8/10

A middle-aged mother secretly writes a strange novel, and her private world starts to spill into the home. The premise is simple, but the film slides toward the uncanny with sly confidence. It explores identity, ambition, and the quiet rage that can live under politeness. Humor appears, then turns sharp as the stakes become personal. It gets weird. In a good way. It belongs on this list for its fearless blend of domestic realism and surreal self-invention. Best for adults who enjoy psychological drama with offbeat edges and a simmering bite.

22. What Do We See When We Look at the Sky? (2021)

• Actors: Oliko Barbakadze, Giorgi Bochorishvili, Ani Karseladze
• Director: Alexandre Koberidze
• Genre: romance, drama, fantasy
• Tone: gentle, magical
• Suitable for: teens, adults
• IMDb rating: 6.8/10

Two strangers meet, fall into an easy connection, and then wake up unable to recognize each other. The film follows their near-misses through daily life, turning coincidence into a kind of destiny. It explores longing with warmth, letting small moments carry big feeling. The city becomes a spell, full of side streets and unexpected kindness. The mood is soft. It’s quietly funny. This is one of the Georgian Movies that shows how romance can be built from atmosphere rather than plot mechanics. Best for viewers who want a tender, dreamy watch and don’t mind a loose, wandering structure.

21. Dede (2017)

• Actors: George Babluani, Natia Vibliani, Girshel Chelidze
• Director: Mariam Khatchvani
• Genre: drama
• Tone: lyrical, tragic
• Suitable for: adults, older teens
• IMDb rating: 6.9/10

In a remote mountain village, a young woman is promised to one man while her heart leans toward another. The setup is intimate, but the stakes are communal, with tradition watching from every doorway. It explores love as rebellion and custom as a system of control that punishes deviation. The landscapes are breathtaking, yet the choices feel suffocating. Beauty and danger share air. The pace is patient, building inevitability rather than surprise. It belongs here for making a private story feel like a whole culture tightening its grip. Best for adults and mature teens who can handle tragic consequences and emotional intensity.

20. Wet Sand (2021)

• Actors: Bebe Sesitashvili, Gia Agumava, Megi Kobaladze
• Director: Elene Naveriani
• Genre: drama
• Tone: mournful, tender
• Suitable for: adults, older teens
• IMDb rating: 7.0/10

After a man is found dead in a coastal village, his granddaughter arrives and discovers a hidden life the town tried to erase. The story unfolds like a quiet investigation, but the real mystery is social and moral. It explores grief, intimacy, and the violence of gossip dressed up as care. The seaside setting feels humid and watchful, as if secrets have weight. The pacing is unhurried, letting looks do the talking. Shame moves fast. So does silence. It belongs here for its compassionate gaze and for the way it turns small-town judgment into real suspense, best for adults and older teens who want a reflective, emotionally heavy drama.

19. Keep Smiling (2012)

• Actors: Ia Sukhitashvili, Gia Roinishvili, Olga Legrand
• Director: Rusudan Chkonia
• Genre: comedy, drama
• Tone: satirical, empathetic
• Suitable for: teens, adults
• IMDb rating: 7.1/10

Ten women enter a televised “perfect mother” contest, and their private lives become public performance. The film uses the show’s rules to reveal what society expects women to endure without complaint. It explores dignity, poverty, and the pressure to look happy while surviving real hardship. The humor is sharp, but the empathy is sharper. It stings. Then it softens. It belongs among Georgian Movies as a modern social satire that keeps returning to human detail instead of cruelty. Best for teens and adults who want something funny, sad, and pointed without being preachy.

18. Ashik Kerib (1988)

• Actors: Yuri Mgoyan, Sofiko Chiaureli, Ramaz Chkhikvadze
• Director: Sergei Parajanov
• Genre: fantasy, drama
• Tone: mythic, ornate
• Suitable for: teens, adults
• IMDb rating: 7.2/10

A traveling minstrel falls in love and must journey far to earn the right to return. The plot is simple, but the film is built from tableaux, color, and ritual gesture. It explores devotion, pride, and fate with the calm certainty of a folktale. Dialogue is sparse, and images carry the emotion like music. It’s hypnotic. It’s strange. This film belongs because it shows how Georgian Movies can lean into folk symbolism and pure visual storytelling. Best for viewers who enjoy fairy-tale logic, theatrical composition, and a slower, dreamlike rhythm.

17. The Legend of Suram Fortress (1985)

• Actors: Veriko Anjaparidze, Tamari Tsitsishvili, Dudukhana Tserodze
• Director: Sergei Parajanov
• Genre: drama, fantasy
• Tone: folkloric, surreal
• Suitable for: adults, older teens
• IMDb rating: 7.3/10

A fortress keeps collapsing, and the legend insists only a human sacrifice can make it stand. The film tells the tale through symbolic tableaux rather than conventional drama scenes. It explores fatalism, communal myth, and the cruelty hidden inside necessity. The visuals are vivid and severe, like painted icons brought to life. The rhythm is ritual and episodic. Expect abstraction. Not comfort. It earns its place because it turns folklore into cinematic architecture that demands attention, best for adults and older teens who enjoy mythic, visually driven storytelling.

When Georgian Movies shift from realism to fable

The next stretch moves from modern observation into works where myth, satire, and visual ritual take over the storytelling. You’ll feel how Georgian cinema can speak in symbols without losing emotional bite, especially when humor turns into critique. If you’re grouping by mood, try pairing a contemporary drama with a folkloric classic to hear the echoes between them. Keep your pace slow, and let the images do their work.

16. In Bloom (2013)

• Actors: Lika Babluani, Mariam Bokeria, Elene Bakuradze
• Director: Nana Ekvtimishvili
• Genre: drama
• Tone: gritty, tender
• Suitable for: teens, adults
• IMDb rating: 7.3/10

Two teenage girls navigate friendship and growing up during early-1990s instability. The setup is everyday—school corridors, street corners, family arguments—yet danger sits close and casual. It explores agency, loyalty, and how violence can become background noise in a society rebuilding itself. The emotions are intimate, never melodramatic. It feels real. It stays with you. This film belongs among Georgian Movies for capturing adolescence with sharp observation and deep empathy. Best for teens and adults who want a coming-of-age story that is honest about fear, pressure, and small acts of courage.

15. Shindisi (2019)

• Actors: Goga Pipinashvili, Davit Zedgenidze, Tamta Kvelo
• Director: Dito Tsintsadze
• Genre: war, drama
• Tone: tense, humane
• Suitable for: adults, older teens
• IMDb rating: 7.3/10

A small unit of soldiers is stranded after a disastrous battle and must find a way back through hostile terrain. The film stays close to bodies and breathing, making survival feel immediate and exhausting. It explores loyalty, fear, and the thin line between bravery and panic. The tension is constant, but it avoids spectacle and cheap heroics. Gunfire is rare. Silence is louder. It belongs here because it treats a national wound with restraint, focusing on people rather than slogans. Best for adults and older teens who can handle combat stress and want a grounded, compassionate war drama.

14. Corn Island (2014)

• Actors: Ilyas Salman, Mariam Buturishvili, Tamer Levent
• Director: Giorgi Ovashvili
• Genre: drama
• Tone: quiet, suspenseful
• Suitable for: teens, adults
• IMDb rating: 7.4/10

An old man and his granddaughter build a hut on a temporary river island and plant corn for the season. Their daily labor becomes a fragile sanctuary as nearby conflict threatens to spill across the water. It explores endurance, innocence, and how politics can reach even the smallest refuge. Dialogue is minimal, so gesture and landscape carry the feeling. The river watches. So do armed men. It earns its place because it makes suspense out of nature, time, and human intrusion rather than action set-pieces. Best for viewers who like meditative cinema with quiet tension and a strong sense of place.

13. My Happy Family (2017)

• Actors: Ia Shugliashvili, Merab Ninidze, Berta Khapava
• Director: Nana Ekvtimishvili
• Genre: drama
• Tone: restrained, incisive
• Suitable for: adults, older teens
• IMDb rating: 7.4/10

A middle-aged teacher quietly rents her own apartment, shocking the family that expects her constant presence. The story follows small rebellions that add up to a life-changing boundary. It explores autonomy, generational pressure, and the unseen labor that keeps households running. The drama is domestic, but the stakes are real and deeply felt. No speeches. Just decisions. This film belongs because it turns a simple act of leaving into a portrait of dignity reclaimed. Best for adults and older teens who enjoy patient character drama and can sit with uncomfortable family dynamics.

12. And Then We Danced (2019)

• Actors: Levan Gelbakhiani, Bachi Valishvili, Ana Javakishvili
• Director: Levan Akin
• Genre: drama, romance
• Tone: urgent, romantic
• Suitable for: adults, older teens
• IMDb rating: 7.6/10

A young dancer in a traditional troupe finds his certainty shaken when a talented newcomer arrives. The premise is romantic, but it’s also about identity and the rules that decide what tradition is allowed to be. It explores desire, discipline, and the fear of being seen. The emotions are direct, never coy. It moves fast. Your pulse follows. It belongs here because it turns performance into conflict and release, showing how art can become a battleground for belonging. Best for adults and older teens in a passionate mood who can handle social pressure and some emotional intensity.

11. Falling Leaves (1966)

• Actors: Ramaz Giorgobiani, Gogi Kharabadze, Marina Kartsivadze
• Director: Otar Iosseliani
• Genre: drama
• Tone: realistic, quietly tense
• Suitable for: teens, adults
• IMDb rating: 7.6/10

A young idealist starts work at a wine factory and learns how easily honesty becomes inconvenient. The story follows routine tasks that turn into small ethical tests. It explores integrity, compromise, and the social price of refusing to play along. The emotions are restrained, but the pressure is constant and persistent. Small lies multiply. So does discomfort. It earns its place because it captures everyday corruption with precision, a key thread in Soviet-era films without melodrama. Best for teens and adults who like realist drama and moral tension in ordinary settings.

10. Once Upon a Time There Was a Singing Blackbird (1970)

• Actors: Gela Kandelaki, Gogi Chkheidze, Jansug Kakhidze
• Director: Otar Iosseliani
• Genre: comedy, drama
• Tone: buoyant, melancholy
• Suitable for: teens, adults
• IMDb rating: 7.6/10

A young percussionist rushes through Tbilisi, charming everyone and arriving late to his own life. The plot is loose on purpose, built from chance meetings and half-finished obligations. It explores time slipping away, responsibility avoided, and the loneliness inside constant sociability. Humor stays light even when the sadness creeps in. He never stops. You start to worry. This film belongs because it turns restlessness into a worldview, capturing a city’s rhythm through one person’s drift. Best for viewers who like observational storytelling and don’t need a tight plot to feel a character’s life.

9. Pirosmani (1969)

• Actors: Avtandil Varazi, Dodo Abashidze, Zurab Kapianidze
• Director: Giorgi Shengelaia
• Genre: biography, drama
• Tone: contemplative, elegiac
• Suitable for: adults, older teens
• IMDb rating: 7.7/10

This biographical drama follows painter Niko Pirosmani through episodes rather than a tidy arc. The film observes poverty, generosity, and artistic obsession with calm patience. It explores how a culture remembers its artists and how loneliness can sit beside public admiration. The emotions are quiet, but they accumulate steadily. It’s tender. It’s tragic. It belongs here because it translates a painter’s gaze into cinematic rhythm, letting scenes feel like living canvases. Best for adults and older teens who enjoy contemplative cinema and can settle into a slow, reflective mood.

How the classics sharpen their teeth

As the ratings rise, the films begin to bite harder, turning humor into indictment and intimacy into history. This is where Soviet-era films speak sideways through irony, and later work confronts wounds more directly. If you want structure, build a three-film night: one satire, one war story, and one allegory. The shifts are the point.

8. Don’t Grieve (1969)

• Actors: Sergo Zakariadze, Vakhtang Kikabidze, Sofiko Chiaureli
• Director: Georgiy Daneliya
• Genre: comedy, drama
• Tone: warm, ironic
• Suitable for: teens, adults
• IMDb rating: 7.8/10

A young doctor returns to a Georgian village and becomes the center of romances, feuds, and social theater. The story plays like a chain of anecdotes, each revealing a new kind of human weakness. It explores generosity, desire, and the way communities stage morality in public. Humor and melancholy trade places in the same scene. You’ll laugh. Then you’ll sigh. This entry belongs because it captures warmth without losing its critical eye, a hallmark of Georgian Movies at their most approachable. Best for mixed households and viewers who like character comedy with a bittersweet finish.

7. A Trip to Karabakh (2005)

• Actors: Levan Doborjginidze, Mikheil Meskhi, Dato Iashvili
• Director: Levan Tutberidze
• Genre: drama, war
• Tone: kinetic, grim
• Suitable for: adults, older teens
• IMDb rating: 7.8/10

A group of teenagers leaves the city on a reckless errand and stumbles into the reality of war. What starts as bravado becomes a shock that rewrites their sense of the world. It explores youth, responsibility, and the brutal speed with which history intrudes on private life. The early energy is restless, then collapses into fear. It hits hard. It does not glamorize violence. It belongs here because it captures post-Soviet chaos with urgency while keeping the human cost in view. Best for adults and older teens who can handle harsh turns and want a fast, unsettling watch.

6. Repentance (1984)

• Actors: Avtandil Makharadze, Zeinab Botsvadze, Ia Ninidze
• Director: Tengiz Abuladze
• Genre: drama
• Tone: allegorical, haunting
• Suitable for: adults
• IMDb rating: 8.0/10

A tyrannical leader dies, yet his body keeps returning, refusing to stay buried. The premise is absurd, but it becomes a devastating metaphor for how societies avoid confronting their crimes. It explores memory, complicity, and the moral cost of silence, using satire as a weapon. The imagery can feel dreamlike, then suddenly brutal. It’s unsettling. It’s essential. It earns its place because it shows the political power of Georgian Movies without reducing people to symbols. Best for adults ready for heavy themes, surreal sequences, and an uncompromising moral argument.

5. Mimino (1977)

• Actors: Vakhtang Kikabidze, Frunzik Mkrtchyan, Elena Proklova
• Director: Georgiy Daneliya
• Genre: comedy, drama
• Tone: charming, bittersweet
• Suitable for: families, teens
• IMDb rating: 8.0/10

A Georgian helicopter pilot dreams of a bigger life and tries to reinvent himself as an airline captain. His ambition leads to misadventures that reveal kindness and vanity in equal measure. It explores friendship, pride, and how home can tug harder than success. The humor is gentle, never cruel. It’s pure comfort. Still thoughtful. It belongs here because it’s a classic crowd-pleaser with real feeling underneath the laughs. Best for families and anyone who wants a warm, humane film with memorable characters.

4. Tangerines (2013)

• Actors: Lembit Ulfsak, Elmo Nüganen, Giorgi Nakashidze
• Director: Zaza Urushadze
• Genre: war, drama
• Tone: humane, tense
• Suitable for: adults, older teens
• IMDb rating: 8.1/10

During a war, an elderly man stays behind and ends up sheltering two wounded enemies under one roof. The setup is simple, but it forces a moral confrontation that becomes quietly transformative. It explores compassion, pride, and the effort it takes to see the human in the other. The tension stays high, yet the film never chases spectacle. The dialogue is tight and unsentimental. Two men. One house, no easy exits. It belongs here because it turns a conflict story into a humane chamber drama with lasting emotional weight, best for adults and older teens who can handle wartime themes without graphic excess.

3. Father of a Soldier (1964)

• Actors: Sergo Zakariadze, Vladimir Privaltsev, Aleksandr Nazarov
• Director: Rezo Chkheidze
• Genre: war, drama
• Tone: poignant, humanist
• Suitable for: teens, adults
• IMDb rating: 8.3/10

An elderly farmer travels toward the front to find his wounded son, carrying love like a survival tool. The journey becomes a chain of encounters that reveal war’s impact on ordinary people. It explores parental devotion, loss, and dignity without needing grand speeches. The emotion is plainspoken and devastating. It hits deep. It feels earned. It belongs here because it’s a foundational classic of humane wartime storytelling in Georgian Movies. Best for teens and adults who can handle sadness and want a film that honors ordinary courage.

2. Sun of the Sleepless (1992)

• Actors: Elguja Burduli, David Kazishvili, Lia Babluani
• Director: Temur Babluani
• Genre: drama
• Tone: bleak, quietly surreal
• Suitable for: adults
• IMDb rating: 8.4/10

A doctor in a small town tries to keep people alive while the world around him feels broken and corrupt. The film watches daily emergencies pile up until routine itself becomes a kind of nightmare. It explores burnout, moral fatigue, and the eerie normality of decline. The tone is grim, yet it avoids easy cynicism by staying close to human effort. It’s strange. It’s absorbing. It earns its place because it captures a society’s anxiety through one man’s exhausted compassion. Best for adults who want a dark, atmospheric drama and can handle sustained bleakness.

1. Blue Mountains, or Unbelievable Story (1983)

• Actors: Ramaz Giorgobiani, Vasil Kakhniashvili, Teimuraz Chirgadze
• Director: Eldar Shengelaia
• Genre: comedy, satire
• Tone: deadpan, absurd
• Suitable for: teens, adults
• IMDb rating: 8.6/10

A writer brings his manuscript to a publishing house and discovers an office where nothing moves, yet everyone insists they’re busy. The film turns delay into comedy, building scenes from meetings, excuses, and perfectly timed non-answers. It explores institutional decay and polite cruelty, showing how inertia becomes a way of life. The humor is dry and relentless, like a smile that hides teeth. It’s hilarious. Then it’s chilling. It earns its spot at #1 because it delivers satire with surgical precision and rewatchable timing. Best for teens and adults who love deadpan comedy and want a classic that still feels painfully current.

Conclusion: revisiting Georgian Movies

Use this ranking as a repeatable route: start with the gentler, modern entries when you want intimacy, then step into the classics when you’re ready for bigger moral questions. Georgian Movies reward rewatching because meaning often lives in pauses, glances, and the moment humor turns into critique. If you want broader context on how cinema is preserved and framed, the Library of Congress National Film Registry is a solid institutional starting point for thinking about film history and cultural memory.

Over time, you may notice a throughline of Caucasus storytelling: resilience, irony, and tenderness used as survival tools. That impulse connects the canon to the Georgian New Wave spirit, where new voices reshape old forms without losing the country’s signature moral wit. For ongoing criticism and cultural perspective beyond this list, browsing The New York Times film coverage can help you place these films alongside wider conversations about war, identity, and art.

FAQ about Georgian Movies