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Edition 2020
Films
Yana lives with her husband David and her son George in a Jehovah's Witnesses congregation situated in the mountains of Georgia. When the community is attacked by a group of extremists, they find themselves facing a battle between the instinct of fearful retreat and the desire to fight for justice. At the same time, Yana encounters a growing dissatisfaction with the patriarchal structure of her religious community. With Arseni Khachaturan’s cinematography and Nicolás Jaar’s original film score, Beginning is a story about obedience and sacrifice within a silent world of repression and isolation. Winner of the San Sebastián Film Festival, it marks the auspicious feature-length debut of Georgian director Dea Kulumbegashvili.
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Cast:
Ia Sukhitashvili, Rati Oneli, Saba Gogichaishvili, Kakha Kintsurashvili -
Original Title:
Dasatskisi -
Country:
Georgia, France -
Year:
2020 - 125’ Subtitles: Portuguese
Director
Dea Kulumbegashvili
Dea Kulumbegashvili is a Georgian filmmaker, born and raised in the remote Caucasus Mountains, a melting pot of various cultures and nationalities which became a strong influence in her cinematic work. Kulumbegashvili studied filmmaking at Columbia University School of the Arts and media studies at The New School in New York. In 2014, she was nominated for the Palme d’Or for Best Short Film at Cannes Film Festival with her debut short Invisible Spaces and, in 2016, her short film Léthé premiered as part of the short-film programme at the Director’s Fortnight in Cannes. Her first feature-film Beginning (2020) was selected for the official competition in Cannes, but was not screened there due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and later became the San Sebastián Film Festival winner, having been awarded the Golden Shell, the Silver Shell for Best Director and Best Actress (Ia Sukhitashvili), as well as the Jury Prize for Best Screenplay.
