Also written by Bliadze together with Elmar Imanov, ‘Otar’s Death’ tells the story of Keti (36) and her son Nika (16), who find themselves in a precarious situation when Nika kills an old man in a car accident. The victim’s family promises to refrain from pressing charges against Nika if he compensates their loss in cash. Within a single day Keti has to raise a large amount of money to prevent her son Nika from being imprisoned. The events come thick and fast. An unexpected turn gives the drama a tragicomical air.
The film, starring Nutsa Kukhianidze, Iva Kimeridze and Eka Chavleishvili amongst others, is produced by Eva Blondiau for Georgia-based production company Maisis Peri in coproduction with COLOR OF MAY (Germany), Studio Artizm (Georgia) and M-Films (Lithuania). Sales are handled by The Yellow Affair.
Festival screenings:
Saturday, August 21, 16:00, Karlovy Vary Municipal Theatre (world premiere)
Sunday, August 22, 12:00, Čas Cinema
Monday, August 23, 10:00, Lazne III Cinema
Tuesday, August 24, 10:30, Husovka Theatre
Synopsis
In a residential tower in Tbilisi and an isolated home on the city’s outskirts live two seemingly disparate families. Keti (Nutsa Kukhianidze) and her teenage son Nika (Iva Kimeridze) live typical urban existences, busy yet unfulfilled; while miles away, trapped in bucolic boredom, Tamara (Eka Chavleishvili) teaches choir and tends to her elderly father, Otar (Marlen Egutia). Yet fate conspires, and their lives irrevocably entwine, one late summer’s night when Nika’s car collides with Otar, setting in motion a series of events that will pile as much misery on one family as it will present possibilities for the other.
Made with a keen inventiveness and droll absurdism that belies its tragic subject matter, ‘Otar’s Death’ is a story of modern disillusionments and intertwining lives, and a study of the stunted and the restless in contemporary Georgian society. Giving equal weight to each perspective, director loseb “Soso” Bliadze opens an alluring and nonjudgmental window onto some of the lesser-seen places and lesser-seen people of his country's capitol.
