First Chechen Movie Shoot in Pankisi

A young Chechen guy, still a teenager and saying goodbye to his 14-year-old fiancee, takes a machinegun and goes to fight the Russian troops. After he dies, the war takes on a different meaning for his younger brother; it becomes personal revenge for him. This is a scene from the first Chechen feature film, shot on location in Georgia.

The 38-minute film entitled “Marsho”, which in Chechen means “freedom”, was directed by Murad Mazaev and presented at the 56th Locarno International Film Festival in Switzerland this month. The film already received a warm welcome at its premiere in Tbilisi earlier this year.

Georgia, which has sheltered thousands of Chechen refugees fleeing from the second Chechen war in 1999, has become a cultural harbor for many Chechens and the birthplace for the first ever Chechen feature film. 

In early 1990s dozens of Chechens arrived in Tbilisi to study in Georgian universities, with the assistance of the Culture Minister of Chechnya, Ahmad Zaka! ev, now wanted by Russia. While many Chechens are perceived in Russia as terrorists, there are many well-educated and interesting people among the Chechen community in Georgia, such as writers, journalists and artists.
 
Surkho Idiev arrived in Tbilisi in 1991 and now studies at the Shota Rustaveli Theater and Cinema University. He was an assistant to Marsho’s director, Murad Mazaev, and acted one of leading roles in the film.

“The film is about the heredity of the generations in the Chechen resistance. It’s about a family and the war,” Surkho Idiev told Civil Georgia.

Marsho tells the story of a Chechen family whose eldest son dies in the fight against the Russian troops. At the moment of his death he tells a friend: “It is not painful… give the gun to my younger brother.”

“With this film we just wanted to say that the war in Chechnya will go on as long as Russia persists in the belief that there is a military solution. When a Chechen is killed there always will be someone who will take the gun for revenge,” says Surkho, who also played one of the leading roles.

It was impossible to shoot all the scenes at the highest level with the tiny USD 14,000 budget. The battle scene is not really convincing. Two dozen dummy bullets and a smoke grenade is hardly enough for such a scene, but the cinematic qualities of the film matter less in this case.

“We do not have any seasoned actors in our movie. Only a couple of the leads are professionals. Most of actors were amateurs, including Chechen refugees,” Surkho says.

The film was shot in Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge last year, while the Georgian law enforcers were carrying out an anti-crime operation to clean the gorge of criminal gangs and Chechen fighters hiding there. For obvious reasons, Chechnya itself was out of the question for the young filmmakers. With the local Kist (ethnic Chechens, citizens of Georgia) population, plenty of mountains and the presence of large number of troops in the gorge, Pankisi was a perfect place to shoot this film.

Funding for Marsho came in part through Akhmed Zakaev. Other money was donated by charities in Turkey, which have been sympathetic to Chechens. Filmmakers say that some technical and material support also came from Vanessa Redgrave, the Oscar-winning British actress.

Surkho Idiev hopes that Marsho will be the beginning of a tradition of films created by Chechens. Production of another Chechen film, this one written by Surkho Idiev is expected to start this year. He did not want to talk about his next movie just yet, as it is considered bad luck to discuss a project before it gets off the ground. Idiev did say that he hopes to direct this next film.

“The [next] film will be about a story that repeats over and over. The action will take place in present day and some two centuries ago. Nothing has really changed since those times for us [Chechens],” Surkho says.

“So it will be about historica! l parallels. I want to make a movie which will show that We [Chechens] are not Them [Russians] and do not want to become Them, no matter how hard they push us. We can’t be like them. We do not want to be like anybody else. We want to be ourselves and we will be.” 
 
By Giga Chikhladze