Digitising The Wound

The wound began as the working title of the research. But archives are magical places where things happen exactly as they were meant to, and that is how we rediscovered Andro Chiaureli’s 1989 film The Wound (ჭრილობა), about Chiatura. It was a massive coincidence, and a sign that we were on the right path.

We worked with Andro himself, and with Giorgi Kakabadze at the National Archives of Georgia, to digitise the film. It was then shown to an audience for the first time as part of Archive of Chiatura’s Wounds.

The Wound juxtaposes the monotonous, low-pitched, unapproachable voice of Soviet officials with the unheard voices of local communities, psychologically wounded as they navigate their traumatised land. The film scenario reverberates with the present as it depicts institutional bodies and officials refusing to acknowledge the link between manganese mining and the devastation of both land and homes. Like our own research, it films no resolution. It simply demonstrates a wound, which after almost thirty-seven years is still open, and more drastically so.

There is one female character in the film who never speaks. She became a symbolic representation of a third dimension—one beyond language, shouting about the affective, material reality we often forget, or simply do not know how to make sense of.

A dedicated fund for Andro Chiaureli’s films now exists at the National Archives, and his other work will become available there.