Giorgi Nadiradze is a freshman at Davidson Community College. Nadiradze has been playing basketball since the age of ten. He always dreamed of becoming a professional basketball player and as it seems his dream is coming true. Besides playing basketball, Nadiradze studies Economics. He never loses faith and always shows huge commitment to his goals. “My aspiration is to get a great education, become a successful (hopefully the best) basketball player and make myself, my family, and friends proud.” said Nadiradze.

Not a lot of students get a chance to enroll at the American institution and play in NCAA, which is America’s prestigious basketball league. It is indeed fascinating how a twenty year old Nadiradze managed to settle in the United States without much adversities. “At first it was hard to stay away from my family but I knew that I needed to sacrifice something. Now it is not hard to be away from home. Because of the tough schedule, I don’t even have time to worry about stuff like that. Another thing that grasped my attention at the first sight was seeing how different United States was from the inside. It is not the same as it seems on the TV. A lot of small towns, poor people, deserted places. I always envisioned US as a densely populated and active country.”  commented Nadiradze about his first experiences in the States.

Nadiradze came to the United States all alone when he was eighteen and had recently graduated from Stuart Hall High School in Staunton, Virginia. “Basically I ended up here because of my High School back in Tbilisi, Georgia. I went to Private High School “Logos”, where my principle Giorgi Chavleishvili suggested to continue my studies in the United States, and I realized that it would be perfect for both, my studies and my basketball career.” replied Nadiradze.

Nadiradze’s plays point guard for his team. His position is much needed for the National Team of Georgia and he surely plans to play for the National Team if he gets a chance. “Georgian basketball is on the rise, it only makes me happy and I want to be the part of Georgian basketball to take over the basketball world.” mentioned Nadiradze. 

Nadiradze’s favorite players are Nate Robinson and Kobe Bryant. He wishes that one day he will be as esteemed as his favorite players, however he is never satisfied with the work he has done, he always strives for more. “I believe and would suggest to all the future students in the US that diligent work and wise time management surely pays off! So be meticulous in what you are striving for and never let success get to your head and never let failure get to your heart.” suggested Nadiradze.

Ioseb Jorjoliani

One day when I was browsing in the Internet, I came up with this cinema website in Montgomery County, Maryland. This theater is called AFI Silver theater and is for dedicated artists, educators, and audiences of the world. The cinema is showing movies from all around the world. What drew my attention was that they are currently playing Georgian movies and have planned different event around topic “Discovering Georgian Cinema”. They play Georgian movies from February 7th to April 14th on selected dates. Admission for the most screenings are free and are followed by events like Q and A with a director of a movie and also Georgian wine tasting. There is a link for those interested in seeing these movies. This events give film lovers an unimaginable possibility to see Georgian movies, rarely shown in North America.

http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/calendar/film-programs/georgian-cinema.html?pageNumber=1

Luka Jorjoliani

Eric Asimov, an American wine critic and food critic for The New York Times published an article- “top 20 wines worth the search under $20“.  Even though Georgian wine is not (yet) as extolled in the United States as Italian or French wines,  Georgian dry-white “Rkatsiteli” still hit the list of top 20. The author selected the wines that are not easy to purchase in regular liquor stores but it is definitely worth going beyond these mundane places and discovering the wines that represent different cultures.

Along with Rkatsiteli the list comprised of Italian wine Malvasia, French- Beaujolais Nouveau, German Muskateller  and sixteen other tasty wines.

Asimov mentioned about Georgian wine:  “This unusual wine, made from the ancient rkatsiteli grape, comes from the republic of Georgia, a cradle of wine-making history. It is fermented and aged in a Qvevri, a traditional clay vessel lined with beeswax and buried in the earth. The result is a deep amber wine with a raspy texture, steely and full-bodied, with aromas and flavors of apples, herbs and nuts. (Terrell Wines, San Francisco)”

source: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/21/dining/20-wines-for-under-20-dollars.html?_r=0

The Estonian-Georgian movie, “Tangerines” (“Mandarinebi” in Georgian), has been nominated for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Language Film category for the 87th Academy Awards.

The movie takes place in 1992 during the war in Abkhazia, Georgia in a village, which is mostly inhabited by Estonians. The main protagonists have fled from war; they are injured fighters from two opposite sides of the struggle and happen to all be staying in the same house of an Estonian man. The main characters are played by Georgian actors Giorgi Nakashidze and Mikhail Meskhi and Estonian actors Lembit Ulfsak and Elmo Nuganen. The language of the movie is mostly Russian with Estonian and Georgian shortcuts.

The film was produced by a Georgian production company Cinema 24 and an Estonian film production company Allfilm .
The film was directed by a Georgian director Zaza Urushadze.
The movie was filmed in the region of Guria in Georgia.  It has been nineteen years since a Georgian movie” A Chef in Love” was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Language Film category.

View Tangerines Trailer

The other nominees for the Best Foreign Language Film:

“Ida” by Paweł Pawlikowski (Poland)

“Leviathan” by Andrey Zvyagintsev (Russia)

“Timbuktu” by Abderrahmane Sissako (Mauritania)

“Wild Tales” by Damián Szifrón (Argentina)