Annual Top Films Lists

Top 100 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2015: #72. Otar Iosseliani’s Chant d’hiver

Published on January 6, 2015

Winter Song

Director: Otar Iosseliani // Writer: Otar Iosseliani

With his 1984 classic title, Favorites of the Moon finally receiving a re-mastered blu-ray release for US consumption earlier this year, we’re greatly anticipating Georgian director Otar Iosseliani’s latest film, his first since 2010’s Chantrapas. Titled Chant d’hiver (Winter Song), Iosseliani has been purposefully vague on the exact nature of the plot, stating only that the film is concerned with ‘the nonsense of revolutions” as well as “the dramatic chaos that every revolution brings.” Employing mostly a non-professional cast, French veterans Michel Piccoli and Pierre Etaix are apparently part of the known names involved.

Cast: Michel Piccoli, Pierre Etaix

Productions Co.: Studio 99, Pastorale Films.

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available.

Release Date: As far as festivals go, Berlin has been kinder to Otar Iosseliani (he won the Silver Bear for Monday Morning in 2002). His last film, 2010’s Chantrapas was selected as a Special Screening for Cannes. With filming moving from Georgia to France in December, it’s been stated the a premiere is projected for 2016, but we believe we might just see this pop up in Venice this fall.

Nicholas Bell

Los Angeles based Nicholas Bell is IONCINEMA.com's Chief Film Critic and covers film festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Cannes and TIFF. He is part of the critic groups on Rotten Tomatoes, The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and GALECA. His top 3 for 2021: France (Bruno Dumont), Passing (Rebecca Hall) and Nightmare Alley (Guillermo Del Toro). He was a jury member at the 2019 Cleveland International Film Festival.