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50 Years of SIFF: Corn Island

Corn Island

Georgia | 2014 | 100 min. | George Ovashvili

April 25 - May 5, 2024

50 Years of SIFF

A farmer and his teenage granddaughter sow corn on a no-man’s land island that forms in the Inguri River each spring in this powerful and award-winning life-and-death fable reminiscent of master filmmakers Bresson, Tarkovsky, and Malick with a hint of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest.” LISA WOODRUFF MILLER (FOOL SERIOUS) CHOICE.

Seattle International Film Festival 2015 selection. One of Senior Programmer Maryna Ajaja's favorites.

"...Never seen anything like it. A real gem of a film. BEAUTIFUL, surreal and unforgettable."—Lisa Woodruff Miller, Fool Serious member

The Inguri River forms a natural border separating Georgia from Abkhazia, two nations whose tensions have not abated since the war of 1992-93. Every spring, the river brings fertile soil from the Caucasus down to the plains, creating tiny islands that act as havens for wildlife and for local peasants who find them perfect for the cultivation of a crop to supplement their income. This fable-like drama, from George Ovashvilli, (SIFF 2009 New Directors Award winner), shot on 35mm, captures the inexorable cycle of life in this harsh but stunning place as an old Abkhaz farmer and his teenage granddaughter plough the earth in preparation for a corn harvest. As his granddaughter blossoms into womanhood and the corn ripens, border patrol boats from the two feuding countries frequently pass, and when a fugitive on the lam finds refuge among the cornstalks, the farmer is reminded of the dangers—both natural and manmade—of cultivating in no man’s land.