Georgia-Belarus Special Film Donation (De La Salle University)

Thelmo Luis Cunanan

Last Monday, a ceremony,held at the Yuchengco Hall of De La Salle University, highlighted the donation of two films, And Kathyn Will Live On and Father of a Soldier, plus several other Georgian and Belarusian cinematic masterpieces, to the university's library.  

Presenting the former was Ms. Anna Marie R. Ablan, Honorary Consul of the Republic of Belarus, while the latter was donated by Mr. Thelmo Luis "Buddy" Cunanan, Honorary Consul of the Democratic Republic of Georgia.  

A short introduction to these films was presented  by Filipino screenwriter, director and author Dr. Clodualdo "Doy" del Mundo, Jr., Professor Emeritus of the Department of Communications.

Anna Marie R. Ablan

Accepting the film donations on behalf of the university was Bro. Michael J. Broughton FSC, Vice-Chancellor for the Lasallian Mission.  

The ceremony was emceed by Mr. Carlito "Lito" Casaje, President and Artistic Director of Dramatis Personae, and welcome remarks were delivered by Dr. Julio C. Teehankee, dean of the College of Liberal Arts. Master of Ceremonies was Dr. Melissa Dizon-Dulalia, Public Relations and Tourism Director of the Consulate of Georgia.

Bro. Michael J. Broughton FSC

The short (26 mins.), 2013 feature movie And Kathyn Will Live On, provided by the Embassy of Belarus in Jakarta, depicts the story of Khatyn, one of the hundreds of villages in wartime Soviet Belarus where the German occupiers exterminated the entire population. 

On March 22, 1943,  the 118th Schutzmannschaft Nazi battalion burned 26 houses, with their 149 inhabitants (including 75 children) inside, as punishment for collaboration with partisans.  Only one adult villager, Yuzif Kaminski, and 5 minors survived to tell the tale. Two other Khatyn women were lucky to be away from the village that day.

In 1969, the tragic fate of the murdered Belarusians of Khatyn was  commemorated in a vast, 50-hectare memorial, opened near Minsk, of 26 symbolic chimneys with bells (which rang every hour).

Dr. Clodualdo del Mundo, Jr.

Father of a Soldier (Djariskatsis mama), courtesy of the Georgian National Film Center,  is a 1964, 86 min. long black-and-white Georgian drama film based on a script by Suliko Jgenti and directed by Revaz Chkheidze. 

Playing the lead role is renowned Georgian actor Sergo Zakariadze (July 18, 1909 – April 13, 1971) who portrays Giorgi Makharashvili, an aging peasant wine grower who leaves his Georgian village and embarks on a dangerous journey to find his wounded son Goderdzi, a tankman and army lieutenant.

However, before Giorgi can get to the hospital in Dubovo, the son has already been sent back to his tank unit. 

The father cannot go back to his village, so he joins the Red Army and goes off into the front lines, accompanying the Soviet Army all the way to the final victory in Berlin where he is briefly reunited with the freshly wounded Goderdzi who dies in his father's arms.  

This touchy and realistic movie,  entered into the 4th Moscow International Film Festival (July 5-20, 1965), won Sergo the "Best Actor" honor.