Broken Music: The Paliashvili Music School Tbilisi

A new documentary about Georgia’s great dilapidated talent factory, produced by Accentus Music, directed by Marita Stocker.

The walls have holes, the instruments may be rubbish, and nevertheless, tomorrow’s stars of classical music are emerging from a music school in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi. Both the violinist Lisa Batiashvili and pianist Khatia Buniatishvili received their musical training here. And in the Republic of Georgia, of all places: Stalin’s birthplace, the passageway for oil pipelines from the Caspian Sea. An orthodox multi-ethnic mix of people in the wild Caucasus, the cross-border territory between the Orient and Occident. A troubled but fascinating nation with an amazing concentration of great artists.

The Zakaria Paliashvili Music School is situated on a hill overlooking Tbilisi. Those who are allowed to enter through the battered entrance door here are filled with pride. Over the last five years, the talent factory has been able to boast 100 young winners of international music competitions, including 50 first-place finishers and Grand Prix winners.

BROKEN MUSIC (WT) is a documentary film about the art of improvisation, about the overwhelming power of music and, last but not least, is a metaphor of Georgia, a country with great potential – one rich in cultural treasures and highly talented people who move along a narrow path between decay and upheaval.

A film by Marita Stocker
A production of Accentus Music in co-production with MDR/Arte
Length: 60 minutes

Director Marita Stocker
Production Company Accentus Music
Co-Production Company MDR/Arte