30. Film Festival della Lessinia
Bosco Chiesanuova (Italia)
23 August - 1 September 2024

European premiere

The tradition of pastoral nomadism in Adjara, a region of Georgia, is centuries old. Between May and September the female nomads take their cattle to graze in the high mountains, cultivate plants, and produce cheese, butter and kaymak. Towards the end of summer, the other members of the family go up to the mountains to collect the produce, take the women back down to the valley and have a guaranteed meal during the winter. Georgian television reports often emphasize the exotic aspects of tradition, but rarely mention the fatigue resulting from decades of hard work. For this reason, the directors chose to approach one of the women, Khatije Beridze, to better understand her routine and her thoughts. It is with her gestures, her silences, her bond with the cows, and her little wooden hut that she tells us about her forty-sixth year of work carried out in solitude in the high mountains.

• 

  Keto Kipiani

  Keto Kipiani holds two master's degrees, in sociology and cultural studies. She began her career as a cultural researcher. Since 2012 she has been part of Sakdoc film, a production company based in Tbilisi, Georgia, for which she works as project coordinator, assistant director, and producer. Khatije (2022) marks her directorial debut.

• 

  Ketevan Kapanadze

  Ketevan Kapanadze was born in Tbilisi in 1997. She graduated in 2019 from Theatre and Film State University, Georgia. From 2016 to 2018 she collaborated in the creation of CineDOC-Tbilisi, a documentary film festival. In 2018 she made her first documentary, Serving the Homeland followed by Lala, The Car Mechanic (2019). How the Room Felt (2021) is her debut feature film.