🎶 OC REVIEWS: Chapsh’s debut album has everything: it’s moody, energetic, and authentic, deriving inspiration from ancient Circassian healing rituals. oc-media.org/review-shaps...

Review | Shapshe — thoughtful, energetic, and fun Circassian folk music

Chapsh’s debut album has everything: it’s moody, energetic, and authentic, deriving inspiration from ancient healing rituals.

oc-media.org

🎬Three short films from 2024 were recently screened at WineCast in Mukhrani, Georgia. From a local take on an acid Western to a revenge film shot entirely through a car windshield, they show how varied Georgia’s cinema is. oc-media.org/review-explo...

Review | Exploring three recent Georgian shorts from across genres at WineCast 2025

From a local take on an acid Western to a revenge film shot entirely through a car windshield, these shorts show how varied Georgia’s cinema is.

oc-media.org

Grateful to @ocmedia.bsky.social for publishing @xkuenning.bsky.social's thoughtful, perceptive review of #AkramAylisli's "People and Trees." Translating this marvelous book was a labor of love--so glad to see it getting some well-deserved attention! oc-media.org/review-peopl...

Review | People and Trees: A Trilogy — exploring boyhood in rural Soviet Azerbaijan

A collection of three novellas, People and Trees encapsulates the experiences of a boy growing up in post-World War II Azerbaijan.

oc-media.org

To mark Georgian director Eldar Shengelaia's recent passing, @ocmedia.bsky.social is reviewing some of his most famous films, all of which are available with English subtitles. To start, his 1963 exploration of the age-old conflict between tradition and modernity: oc-media.org/review-the-w...

Review | The White Caravan — Georgian pastoralism clashes with modernity

Eldar Shengelaia’s 1963 film is a visually alluring and emotional exploration of the age-old conflict between tradition and modernity.

oc-media.org

I had a lot of fun collecting opinions from my colleagues @ocmedia.bsky.social on Eurovision 2025 and the three South Caucasus entries. Have a read here: oc-media.org/oc-media-tea...

OC Media team ranks South Caucasus Eurovision 2025 songs

Ahead of Eurovision 2025, we asked our staff to give their opinions and predictions of all three South Caucasus entries.

oc-media.org

Elene Mikaberidze’s first full-length documentary is a warm, funny, yet bittersweet slice of life — my latest review for @ocmedia.bsky.social Check out this heartfelt Georgian film on @klassiki.bsky.social as part of the ongoing goEast Film Festival! oc-media.org/review-blueb...

Review | Blueberry Dreams — A contemplative look at the dreams and struggles of a Georgian family

Elene Mikaberidze’s first full-length documentary is a warm, funny, yet bittersweet slice of life.

oc-media.org

The third @ocmedia.bsky.social Culture Dispatch will be out tomorrow, focusing on regional Easter traditions, a hauntingly beautiful film on the Armenian Genocide, and celebratory synths. Sign up below! oc-media.org/pages/oc-cul...

Protesters met outside parliament in Tbilisi to mark 9 April 1989, when Soviet troops killed 21 and injured hundreds. Families of protesters recently detained spent the night there, after which minor clashes broke out between demonstrators and ruling party supporters.

The ruling Georgian Dream party has begun to consider an amendment to the Law on Grants, which would include a new article regulating the procedure for issuing grants by foreign donors. oc-media.org/georgian-dre...

Georgian Dream initiates new legislation to regulate the issuing of grants by foreign donors

Georgian Dream and its satellites have long criticised foreign donors for supporting civil society and media.

oc-media.org

📚 OC Review: Armen Davoudian’s debut poetry collection, The Palace of Forty Pillars, is a powerful narrative of queerness, exile, and memory — spanning Armenian, Iranian, and American history. oc-media.org/review-the-p...

Review | The Palace of Forty Pillars — an impressive poetic debut from the Armenian–Iranian Diaspora

Armen Davoudian’s debut — taking the reader through Armenian, Iranian, and American history — is a beautiful personal narrative on change and loss.

oc-media.org

📚 OC Reviews: 1978 — The Struggle for the Status of the Georgian Language: Oral Histories oc-media.org/review-1978-...

Review | 1978 — The Struggle for the Status of the Georgian Language: Oral Histories

While an interesting collection of oral histories, this compilation struggles to do too much at once, becoming disjointed in the process.

oc-media.org

Georgian Dream has proposed legislative changes that would allow the banning of political parties if they are deemed similar to previously banned parties. The ruling party initiated these changes amid its threats to ban the currently existing opposition groups. oc-media.org/georgian-dre...

Georgian Dream vows to amend law to ban new and future opposition parties

Banning the political opposition was one of the ruling party’s pre-election promises for 2024.

oc-media.org

Erdoğan steals video of Georgian protests to accuse Turkish opposition of ‘vandalism’. The video includes footage where the parliament building in Tbilisi is clearly visible. Read more: oc-media.org/erdogan-pres...

🎵 OC reviews: Natalie Beridze’s 'Street Life’ turns Georgia’s protests into an oppressive soundscape, capturing both the exhaustion and resolve of a movement. Built from real protest sounds, it’s a haunting, Lynchian memoir of resistance. oc-media.org/review-stree...

Review | Street Life — the cold drone of Georgia’s long winter protest

Natalie Beridze’s Street Life turns Georgia’s protests into an oppressive soundscape, capturing both the exhaustion and resolve of a movement.

oc-media.org

On Wednesday, the Armenian Parliament adopted a bill that calls on the government to seek EU integration in its second and final hearing. The bill was passed with 64 votes in favour and 7 against. This is how Armenian MEP's reacted to its passage: oc-media.org/the-armenian...

The Armenian Parliament adopts a bill seeking EU accession

The bill was backed by the Armenian government in January.

oc-media.org

Excited to announce that @ocmedia.bsky.social is launching a new review section, covering cinema, literature, and music throughout the Caucasus. Check out my first review — ‘Hard by a Great Forest’ by Leo Vardiashvili — below! oc-media.org/review-hard-...

Review | Hard by a Great Forest — a compelling tale of a Georgian homecoming

Leo Vardiashvili’s debut novel weaves a compelling tale of homecoming, guilt, and loss, all set against the surreal backdrop of a mass zoo escape.

oc-media.org

📢 Do you have a background in journalism or nonprofits? Are you interested in Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia, or the Caucasus? Lossi 36 is looking for board members to help grow our organisation. 🔗 Application and details can be found here: docs.google.com/document/d/1...

As the year comes to an end, the team behind Lossi 36 has come together to share their recommendations for books, albums, and movies on Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. 🔗 Read the reviews here: lossi36.com/2024/12/30/e...

Editor's choice 2024: A round-up of recommendations from the team behind Lossi 36 - Lossi 36

The team behind Lossi 36 shares with you their favourite recommendations of books, podcasts, and movies covering all of Lossi's regions.

lossi36.com

PM Irakli Kobakhidze has congratulated Mikheil Kavelashvili on being elected President of Georgia, noting that under his leadership 'the institution of the president will return to its constitutional mission and regain its dignity'. 🔴 Live updates: oc-media.org/georgia-live...

Local residents of Zugdidi, in Georgia’s western region of Samegrelo, gathered outside the Governor’s Office followed by a march for a consecutive day of anti-government protests. 🔴 Live updates: oc-media.org/georgia-live... 🎥 Odishi TV

Demonstrators in Batumi have made a Christmas tree decorated with photos of protesters and journalists visibly injured during recent rallies as well as a caricatured image of President-elect Mikheil Kavelashvili 🔴 Live updates: oc-media.org/georgia-live... 📷 Archil Kakhadze

A group of Georgians have held a protest outside the Georgian consulate in Frankfurt today, condemning the consulate staff’s silence on election irregularities. 🔴 Live updates: oc-media.org/georgia-live... 📷 Tako Urushadze

Students have gathered in Kutaisi demanding new elections and the release of ‘regime prisoners’. The students plan to march through the city streets where they will join protesters gathered outside the local government building at 17:00. 🔴 Live updates: oc-media.org/georgia-live...

According to Batumelebi, thousands of people are holding a protest rally in support of those detained during the demonstrations against the government’s EU U-turn. 🔴 Live updates: oc-media.org/georgia-live...

Representatives from several religious minority groups have joined the ongoing protest in Tbilisi after marching to the Parliament building with a banner reading ‘Together for Real Peace’. 🔴 Live updates: oc-media.org/georgia-live...

A number of Georgian citizens attending the pro-EU demonstration on Tbilisi’s central Rustaveli Avenue, as well as journalists covering the protests, have been violently attacked by groups of unidentified, masked individuals. oc-media.org/groups-of-ma...

Groups of masked attackers target journalists and government critics during Tbilisi protests

Tonight’s protests in Tbilisi were characterised by violent attacks on protesters, government critics, and journalists.

oc-media.org

Georgian actor Giorgi Makharadze has reportedly been attacked by around 30 individuals carrying batons while police stood by. 🔴 Live updates: oc-media.org/georgia-live... 📷 Dato Papava

BREAKING: One of the leaders of Coalition for Change, Nika Gvaramia, has been detained by police. He had requested that police allow him to enter the coalition's office which was being searched. 🔴 Live updates: oc-media.org/live-updates... 📽️Formula

Georgia’s Constitutional Court has dismissed a lawsuit submitted by Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili and opposition parties against the 26 October parliamentary elections. oc-media.org/georgias-con...

Georgia’s Constitutional Court rejects Zourabichvili and opposition appeals

While the court was widely expected to vote in the government’s favour, Georgian Dream inaugurated the new parliament before waiting for a decision.

oc-media.org

Rustaveli Avenue has been blocked for the seventh night in a row. 🔴 Live updates: oc-media.org/live-updates...