The Machine Which Makes Everything Disappear

Synopsis

The story begins with an experiment. A filmmaker in the country of Georgia posts an ad inviting youth to audition for her film. Facing the camera, the hopefuls confess their struggles and dreams. These raw interviews unfold seamlessly into cinematic slivers of Georgian life. A teenager awaits news of his father’s surgery. A girl anticipates her wedding. The governor of a tiny village faces a monumental decision. A soldier attempts to link his imprisoned brother to the world outside, and a young woman confronts the mother who abandoned her. These threads form a fluid Altman-esque collage of characters—and a nation—teetering on the brink of change. It’s a world where tradition and modernity subtly intermingle: singing traditional ballads is as common a self-expression as listening to hip-hop or playing online poker.

Director Biography

Tinatin Gurchiani was born in Tbilisi, Georgia, where she studied painting, dance, and psychology. After receiving her diploma with honors at the Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, she pursued postgraduate study in psychology at Albert-Ludwigs University in Freiburg, Germany, and the University of Graz in Austria. She studied directing at the University of Film and Television Konrad Wolf (HFF) in Potsdam-Babelsberg, Germany, and graduated with honors in 2010. In 2007, Gurchiani won the DAAD Award for artistic and social engagement in film. The Machine Which Makes Everything Disappear is her first film.