Shashvi shashvi maq'vali

With coming-of-age films having dominated the festival circuit for almost a decade, it comes as a refreshing surprise to encounter an original attempt at the genre. What’s unusual about Elene Naveriani’s latest work is how the protagonist makes us question our expectations as well as the choice of actor to embody her. The plot plays out in a Georgian village, where forty-eight-year-old loner Etero runs a small shop and lives in a spartan house. Following a surreal near-death experience involving the eponymous blackbird and blackberry, Etero’s way of perceiving the world subtly changes. It’s as if her senses are heightened, colours intensify, bodies become palpable. This leads to the loss of Etero’s virginity and the beginning an affair with a delivery man. But there is no romance involved, at least none visible in the gestures and facial expressions of actor Eka Chavleishvili. It’s a film carried by her ambiguous gaze; one can’t stop looking at her. Naveriani films Etero’s eyes like a botanist looking at a flower: she knows what’s going to happen behind the pupils before they even move. Her film is the result of translating such movements into a suitably moving film. (Patrick Holzapfel)

In the presence of Elene Naveriani on October 28.

Elene Naveriani: AM TRULY A DROP OF SUN ON EARTH (2017), LE BOEUF VOLÉ DE PAPA LANTSKY (2018, K, KO-REGIE), RED ANTS BITE (2019, K), WET SAND (2021)