EARTH (1930): Ukrainian Film Week at FOMO Cinema Tbilisi

Oleksandr Dovzhenko | 1930 | Ukrainian SSR | 1h15m | Silent film with English subtitles

EARTH is one of the foundational works of Ukrainian cinema, a silent film that turns village life, harvest, death and political upheaval into something vast and elemental. Oleksandr Dovzhenko made it at the end of the silent era, drawing on the soil, faces, rituals and rural rhythms of Ukraine with an intensity that still feels startling.

Dovzhenko was born in what is now Chernihiv Oblast and became one of the major figures of early Soviet cinema, alongside Eisenstein (who we screened last week), Pudovkin and Vertov. Yet his work never fully belonged to Moscow’s official language. EARTH was criticised by Soviet authorities soon after release, partly because its politics were too ambiguous and its attachment to Ukrainian rural life was too strong to operate like simple propaganda.

The film follows a Ukrainian village during collectivisation, as the arrival of a tractor promises a new future and also tears open a conflict between generations, property, belief and power. The fields, fruit, animals, houses and bodies all carry meaning. His images make Ukrainian land feel alive with memory and danger.

Nearly a century later, EARTH remains one of cinema’s great poems of land and mortality. It belongs to world film history, but its roots are unmistakably Ukrainian: black soil, village ritual, harvest, grief, desire, and the uneasy arrival of a future no one fully controls. It's screening after ENTHUSIASM: SYMPHONY OF THE DONBAS. You can get tickets for both films with our discounted Double Film Pass.

FOOD AND DRINK POLICY: FOMO Cinema Lounge Bar opens 1 hour before the first screening of the day and closes at 02:00,.serving a wide selection of beer, wine, cocktails, and non-alcoholic refreshments including coffee and tea, as well as fresh hot popcorn! Outside food is allowed in the bar but not in the cinema. No alcohol from outside allowed. All guests are invited to arrive early and stay late!

LOCATION: FOMO Secret Cinema, Bazari Orbeliani, Tbilisi. A five minute walk from Liberty Square metro.

HOW TO FIND FOMO: Enter Bazari Orbeliani via Atoneli St above Carrefour and take the stairs on your left to Level 1. Signage on the door. You can also check our Instagram story highlights for a video showing exactly how to find us:
https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17933106294029235/