Mimino

Mimino is a 1977 comedy film by Soviet director Georgiy Daneliya produced by Mosfilm and Gruziya-film, starring Vakhtang Kikabidze and Frunzik Mkrtchyan. Anatoliy Petritskiy served as the film's Director of Photography. The Soviet era comedy won the 1977 Golden Prize at the 10th Moscow International Film Festival. Plot Georgian bush pilot Valiko Mizandari a.k.a. Mimino (Vakhtang Kikabidze) works at small local airline, flying helicopters between small villages. But he starts to dreams of piloting large international airliners, when he meets his former flight academy classmate accompanied by pretty stewardess Larisa, whom he wishes to impress, assured that bush pilot doesnt have a single chance. So he decides to go to Moscow to follow his dream. There in a hotel he meets Armenian truck driver Ruben Khachikyan (Frunzik Mkrtchyan) who is given a place in that hotel by mistake instead of another Khachikyan (Professor), and they have many adventures in Moscow together. Always amicable and open to people, Mimino does not feel at home in the Big World. Nevertheless, he becomes a pilot of a supersonic jet liner, the Tupolev Tu-144, flying all over the world, including San Francisco, USA. Feeling homesick, he finally comes back to his native town of Telavi in Georgia, to his family and friends. Mimino's real name in the film is Valiko Mizandari—his nickname "Mimino" is the Georgian word for sparrow hawk, although it is stated on the back cover of the DVD that "Mimino" means falcon.