Up there with 21st Century masterwork debuts in the likes of Steve McQueen’s Hunger and László Nemes’ Son of Saul, we find Georgian 2020 entry Beginning. We’re learning that filmmaker Dea Kulumbegashvili has won some precious coin to continue developing what will likely turn out to be her sophomore film project. THR reports that Kulumbegashvili is a joint winner of the 2022 Baumi Script Development Award for her treatment on Historia – it follows a female obstetrician in a rural part of Georgia who performs illegal abortions.
The obstetrician Nina is working in a rural Georgian hospital where contraception and abortion are not accepted. But Nina – “a fallen angel” – does what no one else is prepared to do. She risks her own life by performing illegal abortions for women who ask for her help. Dea Kulumbegashvili creates a unique world of poetry in her feature film project “Historia”. The mixture of realism and fantasy elements gives her idea a very special kind of approach. Ildikó Enyedi headed the jury. Previous winners in the six editions past include Omar El Zohairy, Shahrbanoo Sadat and Soudade Kaadan.
In our books, if it weren’t for the pandemic, Kulumbegashvili might have been among the rare filmmakers to break into the Cannes Film Fest’s competition section with their debut feature – the Cannes Label film ended up cleaning house at the San Sebastián Film Festival a couple of months later – landing four awards.
Also worth mentioning, Visar Morina is a co-winner for the prize money. The Sundance preemed Exil (read review) is working on Hatixhe and Shaban, which looks at a family in rural Kosovo, which loses its farm and is forced to move to the city to earn a living.
