Tinatin Kajrishvili: Last News

Jessica Kiang There is an old joke about a pious man stranded on a desert island. As he prays for divine deliverance, a ship arrives, but he sends it away, saying, “God will save me.” Ditto a helicopter and eventually a seaplane. The man dies, to his surprise, and when he gets to heaven, asks God why he did not save him. God replies, “Look, man, I sent a ship, a helicopter and a seaplane…” If the moral of this old chestnut were hewn from the craggy quarries of a benighted Georgian mining village, and carved in strikingly gorgeous black-and-white cinematography, it might look a little like “Citizen Saint,”  Tinatin Kajrishvili’s somber, scabrous third film, in which a rural community refuses to accept a God who moves in anything but the most mysterious ways. 

Marta Balaga Karlovy Vary Film Festival’s main competition section is about to witness a miracle thanks to Tinatin Kajrishvili’s third feature “Citizen Saint,” about small-town miners suddenly discovering that their protector has literally come down from the cross and into their lives. Kajrishvili, already known to festival audiences thanks to Berlinale titles “Brides” and “Horizon,” wasn’t trying to make a religious film, she states. She was more interested in the power of hope and the lengths most people will go in order to preserve it.“Georgians are very religious and one day, a guy appeared in my neighborhood, calling himself ‘Saint Nicolas.’ His followers found him an apartment, and they would just stand in front of his house, praying. Whenever he would open a window, or throw a tomato at them, they would just pick it up and consider it as a blessing,” recounts the director, who co-wrote the script with Basa Janikashvili.

Marta Balaga Sarajevo Film Festival’s CineLink Work in Progress section is about to witness a miracle thanks to Tinatin Kajrishvili’s third feature “Citizen Saint,” about small-town miners suddenly discovering that their protector has literally come down from the cross and into their lives. Produced by Lasha Khalvashi, Denis Vaslin and Borislav Chouchkov, the upcoming film is a co-production between Georgia (Artizm), France (Mandra Films) and Bulgaria (Chouchkov Brothers).Kajrishvili, already known to festival audiences thanks to Berlinale titles “Brides” and “Horizon,” wasn’t trying to make a religious film, she states, more interested in the power of hope and the lengths most people will go in order to preserve it.