France, Georgia

Synopsis

In a sleepy provincial town, a Jehovah's Witness community is attacked by an extremist group. In the midst of this conflict, the familiar world of Yana, the wife of the community leader, slowly crumbles. Yana's inner discontent grows as she struggles to make sense of her desires.

Director's Biography

Born in 1986, Dea Kulumbegashvili is Georgian writer/director based in Tbilisi. Her debut short film INVISIBLE SPACES was nominated for a Palme d’Or du Court Métrage at the Cannes Film Festival in 2014. It was also the first film from independent Georgia to be part of the Official Competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Dea’s second short film LÉTHÉ premiered at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival in the Directors’ Fortnight selection and played in dozens of other festivals around the world, including International Film Festival Rotterdam and MoMa’s New Directors/New Films. For her debut feature, BEGINNING, Dea was invited to the Cannes’ Cinéfondation Residency, and the Sam Spiegel International Film Lab in Jerusalem where she won a prize, as she did at The Sofia Meetings and the Rotterdam Festival Hubert Bals Fund. BEGINNING was invited to be part of the Official Selection at the 2020 Cannes Film Festival as well as the San Sebastian Film Festival's main competition (where it earned a historical win taking home four awards for Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay & Best Actress), the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival (where it won the FIPRESCI Award), the main slate of the New York Film Festival or the Busan International Film Festival. BEGINNING was just selected to represent the country of Georgia for the International Feature Film Oscar run.

FILMOGRAPHY:
2020 - BEGINNING
2016 - LÉTHÉ, short
2014 - INVISIBLE SPACES, short
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Cast & Crew

Directed by: Dea Kulumbegashvili

Written by: Dea Kulumbegashvili, Rati Oneli

Produced by: Ilan Amouyal, David Zerat, Rati Oneli, Paul Rozenberg

Cinematography: Arseni Khachaturan

Editing: Matthieu Taponier

Production Design: Guram Navrozashvili

Costume Design: Keti Kalandadze

Make-Up & Hair: Aida Avakyan

Original Score: Nicolas Jaar

Sound: Séverin Favriau, Stéphane Thiébaut, Tengo Mandzulashvili

Visual Effects: Diego Vazquez Lozano

Casting: Leli Miminoshvili

Cast: Ia Sukhitashvili (Yana), Rati Oneli (David), Kakha Kintsurashvili (Alex), Saba Gogichaishvili (Giorgi)

Nominations and Awards

  • European Discovery - Prix Fipresci 2021
  • Feature Film Selection 2021