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Dasatskisi

Director: Dea Kulumbegashvili
Country: Georgia, France

German Premiere
2020 | 125 min. | Georgian
Subtitles: German, English
FSK 18

Cast_ Ia Sukhitashvili, Rati Oneli, Kakha Kintsurashvili Screenplay_ Dea Kulumbegashvili, Rati Oneli Camera_ Arseni Khachaturan Producer_ Ilan Amouyal, David Zerat, Rati Oneli Rights_ Wild Bunch International

Buckle up: Bible, extortion, lust, sacrifice. Dea Kulumbegashvili's feature debut is one of the season’s wildest rides.

When the Kingdom Hall in a remote community of Jehovah’s Witnesses is suddenly torched, Yana's world is profoundly shaken. In the aftermath, a man approaches her who could be a witness just as well as an investigator or a perpetrator. Whatever the case, Yana is attracted by his crudeness. She’s increasingly torn between duty and doubt. When her husband raises the question of trust, both with regards to marriage and the religious community, Yana makes a radical decision. Dea Kulumbegashvili conjures pure cinematic magic on the screen. Each of the seemingly fixed long takes is brimming with energy and ambiguity. Almost imperceptibly, the Georgian director leads us to a twilight zone in which films only very rarely venture.

This outstanding debut comes to us directly from Toronto and San Sébastian!

Director

Dea Kulumbegashvili grew up in Lagodekhi, in the remote Georgian Caucasus. She completed her studies in film directing at Columbia University School of the Arts in New York. Her first short film, Invisible Spaces, was nominated for the Palme d'Or in Cannes in 2014. Léthé, her next short, screened in Cannes and Rotterdam, among others.