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Tengiz Abuladze
Documentary and narrative filmmaker from Georgia, one of the southern provinces of the former Soviet Union, whose striking film "Repentance" (1984) stirred considerable controversy for its semi-allegorical critique of Stalinism and its descendant ideologies. Mixing surrealist fantasy, potent drama and satirical caricature in its portrait of a tyrannical mayor, "Repentance" was banned from release in the Soviet Union for two years before achieving international acclaim. Abuladze's earlier films include "Magdana's Donkey" (1956), "The Prayer" (1968), "Molba" (1973) and "The Wishing Tree" (1978).