Top 150 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2019: #57. Anton – Zaza Urushadze

Anton

Georgian director Zaza Urushadze returns with his seventh feature Anton, a co-production between Georgia, Ukraine, and the US set in the years following the Russian Bolshevik Revoltion. Urushadze became of international note when his 2013 title Tangerines (read review) was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign language film in 2014 (as Estonia’s submission), becoming the most relevant Georgian director since Otar Iosseliani. Nikita Shlanchak, Mykyta Dziad, Anton Sebastian and Tettyana Granchik star in his latest, produced by Mirza Davitaia, Andrey Suyarko and Volodymyr Filippov (through Georgian International Films LLC, Ukraine’s Insightmedia, and USA’s Cinevision Global). Mikhail Petrenko (Pearls of the Far East, 2011) serves as cinematographer. Urushadze’s previous film, The Confession, was part of the international competition at the Warsaw Film Festival.

Gist: Co-written by Dale Eisler, the film explores the friendship of two young boys, Anton and Jacob, who live in the German-speaking Roman Catholic village of Fischer Franzen in the Ukraine. The film begins as Anton witness his father murdered at the hand of Bolsheviks eager to suppress the spread of Communism in the Ukraine.

Release Date/Prediction: Urushadze entered post-production in September 2018, with producers eyeing a festival premiere in winter of 2018 or spring 2019. Berlin seems the obvious platform given this timeframe, which would mark the director’s first foray into a major festival.