She Likes to Watch

“Botso: The Passion of Music, The Power of Art,” is a feature-length documentary film project focusing on the life of Morro Bay teacher, musician and sculptor Wachtang “Botso” Korisheli, and on the importance of an arts education to society. Central Coast filmmakers Tom Walters, Hilary Grant, and Simo Nylander are traveling with the Korisheli family in the Republic of Georgia, where Botso grew up. Funded through ongoing donations from the community, this nonprofit endeavor is being produced under the auspices of the San Luis Obispo County Youth Symphony. SLO Goings will publish blog entries written by the filmmakers about their trip in coming weeks. More information can be found at www.aspectstudios.com/botso.

We had an audience with His Holiness and Beatitude Catholicos Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II. He is the head of the Georgian Orthodox Christian church — the leader of all who practice this faith in Georgia. Out of more than 5 million people who live in Georgia, it’s a safe bet that 4.5 million look up to this man as their leader. So, this was a very big deal.

It turns out that one of Botso’s relatives in Dimi (remember the truck ride up the creek bed?) works for the patriarch, so she was able to arrange a meeting. Nonetheless, this is a very uncommon event — Ilia II does not do these ceremonies as a rule. Best of all — we caught the entire visit on film!

I can’t even begin to really describe the experience because I have nothing to compare it with. I’ll try, though!

Perhaps being smack in the middle of a l920s silent costume epic directed by Cecil B. DeMille? Except this time, all of the gold furniture and murals and icons on the walls were real. This time, the Patriarch was not from central casting. Of course, he could have been — long white beard, long black robe, hair tied in a tiny bun at the nape of his neck, a jeweled pendant of the Christ child on a heavy chain.

We were first led to one ornate room, then, as Simo so succinctly put it, got an upgrade to a bigger, even fancier room. There, we were led to chairs in a semicircle. Ilia entered and we took turns bowing and kissing his sleeve. Botso seemed a little awed at first but relaxed once he and Ilia began talking. Later, Margaret (Botso’s wife, who can understands bits and pieces of Georgian) told me Ilia asked about Botso’s life, his music, his work. In this big room, nuns in black from head to toe then came in and handed us tiny ornate teacups of what looked like melted coffee ice cream. Yummy! Also, we were each given silver thimble-like cups with some other liquid.

We waited for our cue — Ilia, of course, drank first — and then each took a slug out of the thimble-looking cups. Wowie zowie! It was high-grade cognac. Given that I don’t drink, one big sip and that was enough for me! And the coffee ice cream? Nope — it was the strongest coffee I’ve ever had, with some sort of cream-nutmeg concoction floating on top. As Margaret told me later, “I don’t know whether I’m supposed to be sedated or buzzed!” In this room, nuns also set up some music on a speaker system and we listened to some beautiful Georgian singing (In addition to being the cradle of winemaking, Georgia is also the birthplace of harmony). Margaret later explained to me that this is music Ilia has written. He asked Botso if he thought he had talent or if he should just quit.

Now, what would YOU say to such a man if he asked you this question? I’m pretty sure that Botso told him to continue composing music!

After our coffee, Ilia then led us to an adjoining room full of beautiful plants. Then, the patriarch sat down at a small table covered with an ornate brocaded cloth. He lifted the cloth and voila — there was a Yamaha keyboard! He and Botso then proceeded to jam for a few minutes (well, as much jamming as you can do if you’re the leader of the Christian faith here) — which was completely surreal.

The entire visit lasted about an hour and all of us came out of there saying, “Did that really happen?”

Our last day of filming also included a stop at the clinic where Botso was born, shooting exteriorfootage of the prison where his father was taken (Botso did not go), and talking to refugees who are living on the outskirts of Tblisi in Soviet-built apartments. We will be posting photos whenwe return — keep a lookout for them! We’ll also have a Georgia photo gallery on our Web site, at www.aspectstudios.com/botso. In addition, we were featured on the national news earlier this week and we’ll try to put that up as well. The segment was about two minutes long and in addition to Botso and his family, Tom and I also spoke about the importance of coming to Georgia as part of this project.

By the time you’ve red this we will have left for our trip back to the U.S. But before that — no surprise here — we are having a huge Georgian feast to celebrate the end of our magical time here. Then, off to the airport.

Wish us a safe journey home to SLO!

Hilary Grant
Writer/Co-Producer of “Botso”