Militare Print

Born on 24 September 1952 in Tbilisi, Georgia, David Shushania was raised in the family of renowned artists. His parents, Irakli Shushania - people's artist of the USSR and Nunu Kajaia - honored artist of Georgia, nurtured David in the atmosphere of art. In 1959, David entered the 1st School of Tbilisi and graduated it in 1969. Subsequently, David's education continued at the Tbilisi State University. He graduated the same University in 1974. During his student years, David was seriously engaged into the musical career. He founded and led his own group the Quadrate. In addition, he used to play in such well-known bands as the Blitz and the Blues Mobile Band. The Blitz performed songs from the repertoire of the Fabulous Four and held plenty of successful concerts in Tbilisi, other cities of the former Soviet Union as well as different European countries. In late 70-ies David discovered that his interest in photography was growing. In pursuit of satisfying this passion, David entered the Shota Rustaveli Tbilisi State Theatre and Cinema University and began perfecting his skills on the faculty of Photography at Levan Paatashvili's workshop. Years of 1980-1985 were extremely intensive in view of creativity. Distinguished characteristic of David's personality and talent consists in his ability to perform professionally everything he is committed to - whether it relates to his core speciality or to the pure hobby activity. Following graduating the Shota Rustaveli Tbilisi State Theatre and Cinema University in 1985, David continued cinematography career and joined the Cinema Studio Georgian Film. Professional-wise, those were the most active years in his career. He shot many motion pictures throughout 1985-1992. Among those most distinguished were: the Last prayer of Nazare (directed by Levan Tutberidze), the Treasure of the Nation (directed by Otar Litanishvili and Otar Shamatava), the Noah (directed by Nodar Managadze), the Alien (directed by Goderdzi Chokheli) and the Old Photo (directed by Beso Giorgobiani). The latter movie was shown at the Festival of Cannes. In 1992 David shot a motion picture the Lucky Village in collaboration with Giorgi Levashov-Tumanishvili (the director), who invited David to join his Studio Moon Globe. The Lucky Village was produced jointly by Georgian and English cinema companies. The producer of the Lucky Village was David Rose, affiliated to the English TV Channel 4.