After making its debut at the Venice Film Festival and touring other prestigious autumn festivals like Toronto, San Sebastian, London BFI, and NYFF, it was at Sundance where I finally had the opportunity to speak with Dea Kulumbegashvili about what could very well be our top film of 2024. Titled April, the film is set to be released by Metrograph Pictures in—you guessed it—April. Reuniting with cinematographer Arseni Khachaturan and lead actress Ia Sukhitashvili (the trio previously collaborated on Kulumbegashvili’s masterful 2020 debut, Beginning), the film transports us to the stunning yet challenging rural landscapes of Eastern Georgia. There, we follow an obstetrician grappling with ethical dilemmas during her secretive visits outside the hospital. As our Nicholas Bell so eloquently described in his ★★★★½ review the “long, distilled sequences with plenty of static shots abound. But the brooding stylization quietly transports us into the dark, dreadful places inhabited by its protagonist. We’re led down an austere path of self destruction for one woman who may be seeking expiation, but really has taken it upon herself to bear the burden of womanhood in an environment where the sacrifice of one is necessary for the survival of all. As one character remarks to her, “No one will thank you and no one will defend you.”
In our interview we discussed the set-up of two very specific shot selections, the creative choices she made for the film’s soundscape and her next project – which she will shoot in the United States.:
