Ujmuri – Cheerless

In the land of Colchis in western Georgia, the people have always been plagued by malaria, yet their superstition in the swamp goddess ‘Ujmuri’ hinders a Soviet modernisation project: the draining of the marshland. The silent film was long considered lost in the Soviet archives and was only rediscovered and restored in 2018.

With her silent film UJMURI, Nutsa Gogoberidze not only marks the beginning of female filmmaking in Georgia, but is also the first female filmmaker to raise awareness of ecological issues. The region of Mingrelia on the Black Sea coast, once considered the land of the Golden Fleece and the kingdom of Colchis, is today nothing more than a dilapidated marshland.

NUTSA GOGOBERIDZE
*1902 in Saingilo. †1966 in Tbilisi, Georgia. She was a pioneering
After studying philosophy in Jena, she made her first documentary film MATI SAMEPO (THEIR EMPIRE) with Michael Kalatosov in 1927. In 1934, she became the first Soviet woman ever to shoot the feature film UJMURI. In 1937 she was arrested and sent to a labour camp for ten years. Her films were banned and after her return she was barred from working in film. Her film work was only rediscovered after her death.