
Mariam Bokeria, Lika Babluani
Grzeli nateli dgeebi | In Bloom by Nana Ekvtimishvili, Simon Groß
GEO/DEU/FRA 2013, Forum

Nana Ekvtimishvili
Grzeli nateli dgeebi | In Bloom by Nana Ekvtimishvili, Simon Groß
GEO/DEU/FRA 2013, Forum

Simon Groß
Grzeli nateli dgeebi | In Bloom by Nana Ekvtimishvili, Simon Groß
GEO/DEU/FRA 2013, Forum
Tbilisi, Georgia, 1992: The Soviet era is over and Georgia must fend for itself. Civil war is raging in the province of Abkhazia. For Natia and Eka, the barely fourteen-year-old protagonists of Grzeli nateli dgeebi, childhood is coming to an end. Eka is growing up without her father, rebelling against her concerned mother and her older sister. And Natia’s father, a choleric alcoholic, terrorises the entire family. The two friends cannot find peace outside of the family either – not in school, not on the street, and not in the bread lines. Chaos, insecurity, and fear of what the future might bring hold sway in everyday life. An admirer gives Natia a pistol with one single bullet. A little later, she’s abducted by another admirer.
This first feature film by Nana Ekvtimishvili and Simon Groß takes up the buried traditions of Georgian cinema, weaving together loud and soft, melancholy and missing love, eruptions of violence and a sense of the idyllic, precocious cold-bloodedness and childlike naïveté into a wonderfully rhythmic, exciting cinematic composition. A new generation of filmmakers has emerged in Georgia and is starting out by remembering its own history.
This first feature film by Nana Ekvtimishvili and Simon Groß takes up the buried traditions of Georgian cinema, weaving together loud and soft, melancholy and missing love, eruptions of violence and a sense of the idyllic, precocious cold-bloodedness and childlike naïveté into a wonderfully rhythmic, exciting cinematic composition. A new generation of filmmakers has emerged in Georgia and is starting out by remembering its own history.
Additional information

Film crew
The two directors Nana Ekvtimishvili and Simon Groß (back row, third and forth from left), the two main actresses Lika Babluani and Mariam Bokeria (front row, white and red dress) and further team members.
Grzeli nateli dgeebi · Forum · Feb 10, 2013

Simon Groß, Nana Ekvtimishvili
The Forum winners of the C.I.C.A.E. Prize.
Grzeli nateli dgeebi · Forum · Prizes of the Independent Juries · Feb 16, 2013