Janri Lolashvili
“There is always someone or something else in this world that determines your fate. But this someone or something needs to give you the freedom of choice, rather than imposing constraint. Only then will your life acquire meaning and so will the entire world…” – Janri Lolashvili
Janri Lolashvili is a famous Georgian artist. He is a painter and an actor in the Shota Rustaveli National Theatre till today. Lolashvili’s paintings have been sold in private collections around Georgia and internationally. He is the winner of ‘Camera D’ore’ at Cannes Film Festival.
Janri Lolashvili was born on April 22nd,1942 in Tbilisi, Georgia. After his graduation from the faculty of Directing Animation at Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography (VGIK), Moscow, he started working as an animation artist ar studio ‘Georgian Movie’. Afterwards, he continued his studies on the faculty of Drama at Shota Rustaveli National Theatre and Film University in Tbilisi.
“I can hardly understand people who speak aloquently about their happy childhood or the sweetness and light of their old age. That’s a lie. A thinking person can never afford to live in the peace and calmness of indifference. He experiences his own share of pain, distress and sorrow at any age”
– Janri Lolashvili
Rustaveli Theater Performed Roles:
Wolf, Boy – A book of Wisdom and Lies, Director N.Khatiskatsi
Timothy –Khanuma, Director R.Sturua
Grengolm – From Yesterdays, Director T.Chkheidze
Second Vizier – Salamura, Director R.Sturua
Writer – Kvarkvare, Director R.Sturua
Mercutio – Romeo and Juliet, Director G.Qavtaradze
Theodore – The Death of Ivan the Terrible, Director L.Mirtskhulava
Narrator – The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Director R.Sturua
George – Tutarchela, Director N.Khatiskatsi
Avsharov – A Women’s Burden, Director T. Chkheidze
Varsqen – Torture of Saint Shushanik, Director N.Khatiskaci
Brigadier – The Beginning, Director R.Sturua
Lenin, Dr Obukh, Tikhonov-Lugovoi – Blue Horses on Red Grass, Director R.Sturua
Iona – Taming of Sparrow-Hawk, Director A.Varsimashvili
Gogi, Bandit, David – Variations on Modern Themes, Director R.Sturua
Luarsab – Is he a Human, This Man? Director R.Sturua
Fool – King Lear, Director R.Sturua
Variations on Modern Themes, Director R.Sturua
With his wife Tatuli Dolidze performing Caucasian Chalk Circle
Variations on Modern Themes, Director R.Sturua
Variations on Modern Themes, Director R.Sturua
Rehearsal of Is he a Human This Man?
Performing Caucasian Chalk Circle
Filmography:
Nutsa – 1971
Love at first sight – 1975
Wandering Knights (Edison) – 1975
City or not – 1976
Several interviews in private matters (Irakli) – 1978
Elbrus help me with – 1981
Way Home – 1981
Thank Ratil (Toumanoff) – 1983
Georgians in the sky (the passengers) – 1984
Bagrationi – 1985
Stage – 1986
Robinsoniade or My English Grandfather (Christopher Houston) – 1986
Cha (khringadze) – (1988)
Don Quixote and Roles (Pedro Garcia, of unsound mind) – (1989)
Approach – (1989)
Fatal shot (Gaius) – (1990)
Comrade Stalin’s trip to Africa (Ilya Ilyich) – (1990)
Wisdom and Lies (Sitsruisa) – (1991)
Epiphany – (1994)
Ertatsminda – (1994)
Three houses (psychiatrist, Jemal) – (2008)
Stay with me – (2011)
“Childhood for me is a powerfully nostalgic experience. I’ve not yet developed amnesia for that part of my life and can remember everything. Childhood experiences and feelings are what time cannot erase. They transport you back through time to where there is all-enduring love. It is very much like reincarnation, an overwhelming sense of repetition and renewal”
– Janri Lolashvili
Robinsoniade or My English Grandfather (Christopher Houston) – 1986
TV Series:
Hot Dog (2003-2009)
Exhibitions:
1967 – Moscow
1968 – Germany – Georgian Cultural Days
2003 – Ministry of Justice, Tbilisi
2004 – Copala gallery, Tbilisi
2012 – Shota Rustaveli National Theatre Exhibition Hall, Tbilisi
2015 – Massive solo show at National Gallery, Tbilisi
2015 – Lado Gudiashvili Gallery, Tbilisi
2016 – Gia Gallery – Janri Lolashvili / Gia Japaridze, Tbilisi
2016 – Shota Rustaveli National Theatre – Janri Lolashvili Exhibition/book launching
Received Honors and Awards:
1976 – Honored Artist of the Georgian SSR
1979 – USSR State Prize
1981 – People’s Artist of the USSR
2000 – Actor prize for the best performance (Is he a Human This Man? Rustaveli International Theatre Festival “Golden Mask”
2012 – Janri Lolashvili “STAR ” opening at Rustaveli Theatre
“Life is a vanity. Besides, it brings a new philosophical credo diverting the flow of life from its usual course”
– Janri Lolashvili