Rotterdam regular, the award-winning writer-director Otar Ioseliani returns to the festival with Ioseliani turning his earlier snipes at Soviet authority into an outright war, as Adam Minns finds out.

Admittedly, l'homme terrible of Georgian cinema is hardly short of trophies to adorn his mantelpiece. While his stubborn and frank brand of satire was a perpetual thorn in the side of the Soviet authorities, his films won prizes across Europe: 1988's Le petit monastere en toscane picked up Best Documentary from the Societe des Gens de Lettres; 1976's Pastoral (The Summer in the Country) landed the International Critics' Prize at Berlin; and 1966's Listopad (When Leaves Fall) floated off with the FIPRESCI Prize at Cannes. And there's of course Venice where he's won the Special Jury Prize twice - in 1989 for Et la lumiere fut (And there was Light) and in 1984 for Les favoris de la lune (Favourites of the Moon) - writer/director Otar Ioseliani returns to the Biennale looking for his hat

Brigands (In vino veritas) sees Ioseliani turning his earlier snipes at Soviet authority into an outright war. Setting the film in a Georgia-esque country in the Middle Ages, the Soviet era and the present day, the 62-year-old filmmaker twists Marx's development theory by using similar storylines and characters in each epoch to show how, despite the passing years, nothing much changes. Vano, played by Georgian thesp Amiran Amiranachvili, is king of a small country which, coveted by its neighbours, is always at war. Consequently, King Vano is surrounded by discontented, jealous and treacherous courtiers. Even Queen Eka, played by Nino Ordjonikidze, betrays him, despite her well-designed chastity belt. Vano has a surrogate queen in the comely form of his favourite, Lia (Keti Kapanadze), but Lia has never forgiven Vano for abducting her, and seeks vengeance with a chalice of poisoned wine.

Some five centuries later, Vano is a pickpocket in a small country behind the Iron Curtain. Played again by Amiranachvili, he joins the revolutionary cause of the beautiful Eka, played once more by Ordjonikidze. Victorious, the couple climb through the ranks of the new order, but their success breeds discontent, jealousy and treachery. Acquaintances disappear, hauled off to prison for a few ill-chosen words after getting drunk. Meanwhile, the country is at war with itself: some citizens shoot from the rooftops at anything that moves, others patrol the city and countryside in tanks and armoured cars, and the rest loot. Knowing that he cannot even have a drink without endangering himself, Vano decides to leave his country for the bright lights of the big city where he hears life is sweet.

Testifying both to Ioseliani's international reputation and the lamentable state of Georgia's film industry, Brigands is a pan-European production, involving France's Pierre Grise Productions and La Sept Cinema, Russia's Soyuzkinoservice, Switzerland's Carac Film and Italy's Bim Distribuzione. Financiers for the US$3.8 million production include ARTE, Canal+ and the National Centre of Cinema (CNC) in France; Russia's State Committee for Cinema; the Swiss Ministry of Culture and Zurich's Teleclub AG; and Italy's RAI1 and Bim.

Shooting took place on location in Georgia over a gruelling six weeks during mid-winter. "There was no electricity and nothing to eat," remembers producer Martine Marignac, who was also behind Ioseliani's last feature La chasse aux papillons (1992). Things went from bad to worse when the production moved to Georgia's state studios in the capital, Tbilisi. "There were no telephones, hardly any lights and no chemicals in the lab," recalls Marignac. Ironically, many of the lavish interior sequences then had to be shot during two weeks in St Petersburg. "Whatever antiques or objets d'art the Russians hadn't destroyed, the Georgians have had to sell to survive," explains Marignac. Adam Minns

Brigands - Sunday 2-2, 1.30PM, Venster 1, Wednesday 5-2, 4PM, Venster 4