Interview: Tinatin Kajrishvili & Lasha Khalvashi – Citizen Saint

Premiering in competition at this year’s Karlovy Film Festival, Tinatin Karishvili‘s third feature Citizen Saint is set in a small mining town, where a crucified saint has mysteriously come to life, upsetting the community’s entrenched belief system. I spoke with the filmmaker and her producer Lasha Khlavashi to converse about the film, which is Georgia’s official submission in the category of Best International Feature for the 96th Academy Awards. Together, they discuss narrative and visual influences on their long-gestating project and the Georgian film industry in general.
Los Angeles based Nicholas Bell is IONCINEMA.com's Chief Film Critic and covers film festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Cannes and TIFF. He is part of the critic groups on Rotten Tomatoes, The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and GALECA. His top 3 for 2021: France (Bruno Dumont), Passing (Rebecca Hall) and Nightmare Alley (Guillermo Del Toro). He was a jury member at the 2019 Cleveland International Film Festival.
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