There are eight films competing in the Haggiag Competition for best Israeli feature film at this year’s Jerusalem Film Festival. The atmosphere is great, even though there aren’t so many international guests. I have already seen about half of the Israeli features, and I have a few favorites, including Nandauri, a debut feature film directed by Eti Tsicko.
Nandauri is an extraordinarily beautiful film
about two people coming together for a chance encounter – two people who live
in very different worlds. This is a film filled with stunning views, wonderful
characters, and complicated issues about relations between men and women.
Marina is a stylish
woman of Georgian descent who arrives on a rainy night to a far-flung village
in the mountains of Georgia (in the Former Soviet Union). This region of the
country is stunningly beautiful. When
Marina’s parents left and took her to Israel as a child, she was forced to give
up her dog, which is portrayed in a wonderful scene of childhood memory. Today, she is a sophisticated lawyer, forced
to confront her past, during this trip to Georgia.
Marina succeeds
in convincing Dato, the boy’s guardian, to take her to Tbilisi to obtain a
birth certificate for the boy. A road
trip ensues, where they argue incessantly, meet some wonderful people along the
way who help them (and represent the wonderful and positive culture and people
of Georgia today), and they end up sharing a bed for the night.
I loved this
film – the compelling characters, the complexity of the story, and the extraordinary severity of the scenery
and the life. The two conflicting cultures are portrayed by the stylish woman
lawyer in juxtaposition with the dying and somewhat demented grandfather who is
hovering in the background throughout.
Nandauri is available from Ayelet Kait at
Lama Films, ayelet@lamafilms.com
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