Dito Tsintsadze
A Georgian filmmaker whose darkly comic and psychologically intense movies explore displacement and identity from a post-Soviet perspective.
Born 1957 (age 69)·Georgian film director·Birthday: March 2·Baby Boomers
Biography
Dito Tsintsadze emerged from the rich cinematic tradition of Georgia, but his voice is distinctly shaped by exile and observation. Beginning his directing career in the late Soviet period, he found his international footing after relocating to Berlin in 1996. This physical distance from his homeland sharpened his focus on themes of alienation and the absurdities of life in transition. His breakthrough film, 'Lost Killers,' presented at Cannes in 2000, established his signature tone: a blend of grim social realism and unexpected, often bitter, humor. Tsintsadze's films often place ordinary characters in extraordinary, morally ambiguous situations, using precise visual storytelling to dissect the lingering traumas and strange new realities faced by those navigating a fractured world.
Baby Boomers
1946–1964
The largest generation in history at the time. Shaped by postwar prosperity, the Vietnam War, the sexual revolution, and Watergate. They questioned every institution their parents built — then ran them.
Dito was born in 1957, placing them squarely in the Baby Boomers. The events that shaped this generation — postwar prosperity, civil rights, Vietnam, and the counterculture — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Dito Was Born
The biggest hits of 1957
#1 Movie
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Best Picture
The Bridge on the River Kwai
#1 TV Show
Gunsmoke
Dito's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1957Born
Sputnik launches the Space Age
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $10,550Min wage: $1.00/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"All Shook Up" — Elvis PresleyBest Picture: The Bridge on the River Kwai
1962Started school
Cuban Missile Crisis brings the world to the brink
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $12,800Min wage: $1.15/hrPresident: John F. Kennedy"Stranger on the Shore" — Acker BilkBest Picture: Lawrence of Arabia
1970Became a teenager
First Earth Day; The Beatles break up
Gas: $0.36/galHome: $17,000Min wage: $1.60/hrPresident: Richard Nixon"Bridge over Troubled Water" — Simon & GarfunkelBest Picture: Patton
1973Could drive
US withdraws from Vietnam; Roe v. Wade decided
Gas: $0.39/galHome: $22,100Min wage: $1.60/hrPresident: Richard Nixon"Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree" — Tony Orlando & DawnBest Picture: The Sting
1975Could vote
Fall of Saigon ends the Vietnam War
Gas: $0.57/galHome: $27,600Min wage: $2.10/hrPresident: Gerald Ford"Love Will Keep Us Together" — Captain & TennilleBest Picture: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
1978Turned 21
First test-tube baby born
Gas: $0.63/galHome: $35,300Min wage: $2.65/hrPresident: Jimmy Carter"Shadow Dancing" — Andy GibbBest Picture: The Deer Hunter
1987Turned 30
Black Monday stock market crash
Gas: $0.90/galHome: $72,400Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"Walk Like an Egyptian" — The BanglesBest Picture: The Last Emperor
1997Turned 40
Princess Diana dies in Paris car crash; Harry Potter published
Gas: $1.23/galHome: $104,100Min wage: $5.15/hrPresident: Bill Clinton"Candle in the Wind 1997" — Elton JohnBest Picture: Titanic
2007Turned 50
iPhone released; Great Recession begins
Gas: $2.80/galHome: $172,600Min wage: $5.85/hrPresident: George W. Bush"Irreplaceable" — BeyonceBest Picture: No Country for Old Men
2017Turned 60
#MeToo movement; solar eclipse crosses the US
Gas: $2.42/galHome: $195,000Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Donald Trump"Shape of You" — Ed SheeranBest Picture: The Shape of Water
2026Age 69 today
Gas: $3.91/galPresident: Donald Trump
Key Achievements
- His film 'Lost Killers' was selected for the Un Certain Regard section at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival.
- Served on the jury of the 29th Moscow International Film Festival in 2007.
- Has built a filmography of over a dozen feature films as a director since his debut in 1988.
Did You Know?
He studied film direction at the Shota Rustaveli Theatre and Film University in Tbilisi.
He has lived and worked in Berlin, Germany, since the mid-1990s.
His film 'The Man from the Embassy' was a German-Georgian co-production.
“I film the small human cracks within the big political walls.”
