Like the protagonist of LATE MARRIAGE, writer-director Dover Kosashvili was born in Georgia (of the former USSR) and raised in Israel. Kosashvili's provocative debut feature is a very funny, but sometimes painful account of one man's late journey of self-discovery. Zaza (Lior Loui Ashkenazi) is thirty-one years old, and his parents, Yasha (Moni Moshonov) and Lily (the directors own mother, Lili Kosashvili), are supporting him while he attends grad school. They believe in the traditions of "the old country," and they are distraught and embarrassed because their only son is not married. After many abortive attempts to arrange a marriage for him, they discover that Zaza is having a torrid affair with Judith (Ronit Elkabetz). Zaza's parents wont let him marry Judith because she's older than Zaza, she's divorced, and she has a nine-year-old daughter, Madona (Sapir Kugman). It's a familiar story, but Kosashvili eschews easy laughs, stereotypes, and clichs in favor of subtly performed, well-observed family drama. The frank presentation of Zaza and Judith's relationship gives LATE MARRIAGE an erotic charge. Kosashvili never shies away from Zaza's fecklessness, or the ugliness of his families' prejudices, but he finds plenty of humor and life in the film's sad story.

• Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema 2002 (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
• Hong Kong International Film Festival 2002 (Kowloon, Hong Kong)
• New Orleans Film Festival 2002 (New Orleans, United States)
• Cannes Film Festival 2001 (Cannes, France)
• Toronto International Film Festival 2001 (Toronto, Canada)
• Warsaw International Film Festival 2001 (Warsaw, Poland)