Georgian producer Tekla Machavariani, in Locarno this week for the world premiere of director Tato Kotetishvili’s “Holy Electricity,” which plays in the Swiss fest’s Filmmakers of the Present section, has unveiled a slate of new features at her Tbilisi-based production company Nushi Film.
Among them is the first Georgian-Japanese co-production, a film inspired by the brutal Georgian Civil War of the early-1990s, and a movie set among the hip-hop generation of the 2000s in the crime-filled streets of Tbilisi.
“When I founded the company, my main goal was to work with my friends who were inspiring me. They taught me cinema,” said Machavariani, who launched Nushi Film in 2015. “For me, the most important thing is to make Georgian films with directors with whom I grow. We start with short films and then, slowly, we go through the journey together.”
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“The Dog is Barking” is the ambitious feature debut from Georgian contemporary artist Vajiko Chachkhiani that marks the first co-production between the former Soviet Republic and Japan. Prolific Japanese scriptwriter Sakichi Sato — who penned Takashi Miike’s cult classic “Ichi the Killer” — is already attached to the project, along with cinematographer Kôichi Furuya, who was the D.P. of the Berlinale premiere “Mr. Long,” from maverick Japanese director Sabu. Japanese producer Tomo Suzuki — a collaborator of Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s — and German production outfit Color of May have also boarded the film.
Pic is billed as the first installment of the “labor horror” trilogy, which aims to establish a distinctive style of auteur films centered on labor issues while incorporating elements of social drama, suspense and horror. It marks the latest chapter in an ongoing collaboration between Chachkhiani and Machavariani that includes eight short films, though the producer said this is the first time that the artist’s work will be more narrative-driven.
The film, which aims to begin production in early 2025, will mostly shoot in Georgia with several smaller scenes lensed in Japan. Machavariani said the partnership marks an unorthodox but ultimately natural collaboration between the two countries.
“Japanese and Georgian culture are so different. But at the same time, we have an important common thing, which is that we appreciate our traditions and how we live with these traditions,” she said. “We are so different and so similar at the same time, and we want to merge those things in our film.”
Tamar Shavgulidze’s third feature, “Vika,” is the follow-up to her 2019 Toronto premiere “Comets,” which was also produced by Machavariani. The project reunites Nushi Film with Holland’s GoGoFilm, a co-producer on “Holy Electricity.” Pic follows the eponymous character, a 27-year-old basketball player who flees her war-torn hometown with her husband after an invasion. Along with other refugees, they struggle through the impassable Caucasus Mountains, an arduous journey that leaves Vika with an impossible choice when her fate takes a dark and unexpected turn.
Machavariani described “Vika” as her “passion project” that charts a “very dark time” in recent Georgian history, but also tells a story of hope and perseverance. “It’s a very human story,” she said. “For me, what is very important in Tamar’s films is that…you always see that what’s most important is love, and how love can give you strength to move mountains.”
Lastly, Machavariani is developing “Milk & Honey,” a Georgian-French co-production from debut director Tornike Gogrichiani that aims to begin filming in summer 2025. Pic has received development funding from the Ciclic fund in France and has French producer Johann Chapelan attached.
Set in the early 2000s in the crime-ridden streets of Tbilisi, “Milk & Honey” follows a high-schooler who navigates love, hip-hop, identity, family and friendship as he tries to find his place in a toxic masculine world. “It talks about our childhood, but also it talks about why [our generation is] like this today — because we went through so much,” said Machavariani. “This is a reflection on our childhood and understanding why we are here now.”
“Holy Electricity,” which will compete next week at the Sarajevo Film Festival following its Locarno premiere, is the directorial debut of veteran Georgian cinematographer Tato Kotetishvili, who also lensed the film and co-wrote the script with Irine Jordania and Nutsa Tsikaridze. It follows a pair of hapless cousins who, after finding a suitcase full of rusty crosses in a scrapyard, decide to turn them into neon crucifixes and sell them door-to-door to the gullible faithful of Tbilisi.
The film was produced by Kotetishvili and Machavariani and co-produced by Ineke Smits, Ineke Kanters, Lisette Kelder, Guka Rcheulishvili and Marisha Urushadze for GoGoFilm, The Film Kitchen and Arrebato Films.
Speaking to PvNew after a series of sold-out screenings in Locarno, Machavariani had nothing but praise for Kotetishvili. “He’s one of the most interesting — not only cinematographers, but also a director with a very specific vision,” she said. “When you see the image, you understand it’s done by him. The humor and the humanity which he has is very rare.”
