Dolidze Simon

Simon (Siko) Dolidze, (6 February 1903, Ozurgeti – 17 June 1983, Tbilisi), was a Georgian film director and screenwriter, and one of the founders of Georgian cinema. He was honored as People’s Artist of the USSR in 1965.

He graduated from the Faculty of History and Philology at Tbilisi State University in 1925. That same year, he began working at “Sakhkinmretsvi” (Georgian State Film Industry), first as an assistant director, and later as a director of feature and documentary films. In 1928, he founded the chronicles department at the film studio, which he led himself.

Dolidze directed numerous documentary films, including: The Breakthrough at Mursali, The Twelfth Year of October, and The Call of the Land (all 1929); Soviet Ceylon (1930); Pshaveti (1932); The Glorious Path (1946); Soviet Georgia (1952, co-directed with R. Karmen); Flourishing Georgia (1957), and others.

He also created several notable feature films, such as: In the Region of Avalanches (1931); The Last Crusaders (silent – 1934, sound – 1935); Dariko (1936); Friendship (1940); Chrichina (1954); Song of Eteri (1956); Fatima (1958); The Last Day, the First Day (1959); Paliastomi (1963); Meeting with the Past (1966); The City Wakes Early (1967); The Gardens of Semiramis (1970); Escape at Dawn (1975); Man or Beast?! (1979, co-directed with Keti Dolidze); and Kukaracha (1983, also with K. Dolidze), which received the All-Union Film Festival Prize for Best Adaptation.

Dolidze’s work was marked by strong ideological focus and artistic mastery. He also wrote screenplays for animated films, including The Wedding of the Jays (1957), The Mouse Trap (1965), and The Nightingale’s Jubilee (1978), among others.

From 1957 to 1976, he served as Chairman of the Union of Cinematographers of Georgia. Throughout his career, he received numerous state honors and awards.

 

Literary works: მოგონებები, თბ., 1984.

Literature: Сико Долидзе. Рассказы о творческом пути (Лит. запись К. Церетели), М., 1968.