Revaz Chkheidze | |
---|---|
Born |
Kutaisi, Georgian SSR (now Georgia) |
8 December 1926
Died | 3 May 2015 Tbilisi, Georgia |
(aged 88)
Occupation | Film director |
Years active | 1953–2008 |
Revaz "Rezo" Chkheidze (Georgian: რევაზ "რეზო" ჩხეიძე; 8 December 1926 – 3 May 2015) was a Georgian film director, best known for his Soviet-era drama films, including his 1964 World War II-themed Father of a Soldier.
Born in Kutaisi in the family of the writer Davit Chkheidze (he would be executed during the Great Purge in 1937), Chkheidze studied acting at Tbilisi State Institute of Theatre from 1943 to 1946 and continued his education under Sergei Yutkevich and Mikhail Romm at VGIK in Moscow from 1949 to 1953. Chkheidze directed twelve films and a TV miniseries between 1953 and 2008. He rose to fame with Magdana's Donkey, co-directed with Tengiz Abuladze, which won the Best Fiction Short award at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival. His 1964 film Father of a Soldier was entered into the 4th Moscow International Film Festival.The Saplings of 1972 won a diploma at the 8th Moscow International Film Festival.
During the Soviet era, Chkheidze was a Communist Party member and also served as secretary of Georgian SSR Union of Cinematography, then a top decision-making body in the field, from 1963 to 1981. Also, he was twice elected to the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union in 1974 and 1979. He was appointed executive director of Georgia's Kartuli Pilmi studio in 1973, a position he held, intermittently, into the 1990s.