Dir: Tinatin Kajrishvili | Georgia, Drama 2023
Is hope always a good a thing, or is it just a concept there to serve our own selfish needs? This is the question Tinatin Kajrishvili explores in her latest feature.
In a remote Georgian mining town, a saint’s stone statue mounted on a crucifix presides over the surrounding countryside and serves as a fatherly figure to those who come in tribute and also ask for help and protection
Citizen Saint – screening at this year’s Svaneti International Film Festival – reflects on the way Christian symbols of all kinds provide a comforting focus to believers all over the world.
According to local folklore the saint was crucified before turning to stone three days later. But when the man on the cross mysteriously disappears during restoration work a silent stranger (George Babluani) sporting stigmata and seemingly possessing mystic powers appears in the village causing the locals to assume this is the reincarnation of the statue. Some even reflect on the many secrets they have shared with him.
Miracles soon start to happen: the stranger finds a path through the caved-in tunnel where one of the villagers, a modest man called Berdo, once lost his son in a mining accident. Up to now he has only communed with his son’s ghost but now he can connect with him. The mine becomes a place of pilgrimage with believers coming from near and far in search of hope and healing including Mari, a woman whose husband was injured in the same incident. But the focus is always on the pilgrims’ own needs and expectations rather than the saintly man himself.
The Carpathian mountains surrounding the Svaneti International Film Festival provide an evocative backcloth for viewing this intriguing parable, a third feature for Kajrishvili who crafts an imaginative story about our ability to use representational icons to our own ends. Agile camerawork by Bulgarian DoP Krum Rodriquez is one of the triumphs of this resonant feature capturing the widescreen splendour of the craggy peaks, valleys and caves in pristine monochrome with fabulous use of light and shadow. Tako Zhordania‘s score adds to this surreal ambiance, combining ancient instruments, including the two-stringed erhu, and an Orthodox choir. @MeredithTaylor
NOW SCREENING AT SVANETI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL