Georgian Film Explores Drinking Tradition

Why this is here: The film features a prop wine horn that, according to those involved in the production, was never real—a symbolic object used to explore the weight of tradition.

In 1976, director Irakli Kvirikadze released Small Town of Anara, a film set in a fictional Georgian town that satirizes societal pressures. The story centers on Varlam Toroshelidze, who inherits a large wine horn and the expectation to drink from it in a single sitting—a tradition meant to uphold his family’s honor. Challengers arrive at his home seeking to claim the horn, creating escalating absurdities.

The film features a strong cast including Rezo Esadze as Varlam, and uses close-up shots to emphasize his reactions to the relentless challenges. Varlam’s mother and aunt reinforce the importance of the tradition, highlighting how inherited rituals sustain themselves. Three men later steal the horn, prompting Varlam to retrieve it, even though he privately questions its value.

Nana Jorjadze, an intern on the film, explained Kvirikadze aimed to show how Soviet traditions became distorted over time. Film historian Gogi Gvakharia suggests the drinking horn itself was a Soviet-era invention falsely presented as ancient Georgian heritage.

The film received limited distribution and scant press in the Soviet Union, but won a prize at the 1978 Locarno Film Festival. The search for the horn—and its meaning—continues to resonate.