Abkhaz president voices blacksmith in cartoon
Abkhaz President Badra Gunba has voiced a character in the animated film Nart Sasrykva, dedicated to a hero of the Abkhaz epic. Gunba provided the voice of one of the film’s characters, the blacksmith Ainar.
Work on the 36-minute animated film, which has taken five years to complete, is nearing its end, with its official premiere due in a month. Director Astamur Kvitsinia adapted the heroic epic, which has several versions, into a format designed to be engaging and accessible to children.
It is unclear why the president became involved in voicing the film. One possible explanation is the longstanding friendship between Badra Gunba and Astamur Kvitsinia, dating back to Gunba’s time as Abkhazia’s culture minister from 2011 to 2014.
Astamur Kvitsinia is widely regarded as the father of Abkhaz animation and has created more than a dozen animated films based on Abkhaz fairy tales and myths.
Versions of the Nart epic, about warrior brothers who battle giants, are found among many peoples of the Caucasus. Most scholars date the epic to the 8th-7th centuries BC.
Each people’s version has its own distinctive features and reflects its particular worldview. In the Abkhaz version, the Narts are a family of 100 brothers and their only sister. Sasrykva, the youngest of the brothers, is the epic’s main hero.
The terminology, place names and views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of this website.
