Tengiz Abuladze started to think about the film in the early 1970s . A near-fatal car accident in the early 1980s then convinced Abuladze to start shooting the film . He was encouraged by Eduard Shevardnadze who at that time was the first secretary of the Georgian Communist Party and who offered a special and uncensored slot on Georgian television for the film . During the shooting of the film the actor Gega Kobakhidze was arrested for being involved in the hijacking of Aeroflot Flight 6833 . Production was temporarily halted , and was resumed several months later with Merab Ninidze replacing Kobakhidze
Aeroflot Flight 6833
Aeroflot Flight 6833
Repentance (1987 film)