Цlумихъ (Tsumikh – Avar for “At the Eagle’s”)

Canal Projects is pleased to present the U.S. premiere of Taus Makhacheva’s newest film Цlумихъ (Tsumikh – Avar for “At the Eagle’s”). In the film, Makhacheva interrogates the fraught relationship between personal and public memory by revisiting how her late grandfather, Rasul Gamzatov (b.1923–2003)––a celebrated Soviet poet––is remembered.

Taking place in a set that is repeatedly constructed and deconstructed, Makhacheva’s childhood recollections of her grandfather meet the manifestation of Gamzatov’s public identity. Over the course of the film, it is subtly revealed how these remembrances are at odds with one another. The film stages the sculptural busts, archives, documents and newspapers used to memorialize Gamzatov’s life and legacy, contrasting these with the mementos and anecdotes of his family.