Beginning, the debut feature by writer and director Déa Kulumbegashvili '18 and producer Ilan Amouyal '17, is set to debut exclusively on MUBI starting on Friday, January 29, 2021. The film will be presented online by Kulumbegashvili herself. Beginning premiered at the 2020 Cannes Film Festival as one of only 56 movies chosen for the Official Selection out of a total of 2,067 feature films and later went on to win the FIPRESCI Prize at the Toronto International Film Festival. It has recently been selected as Georgia’s official contender for the Best Foreign Film category at this year’s Academy Awards.
Beginning is set in a sleepy provincial town, where a Jehovah’s Witness community is under attack from an extremist group. In the midst of this conflict is Yana, the wife of the community leader, whose familiar world is slowly crumbling around her. Meanwhile, a detective intrudes on her home with devastating consequences. Watch the trailer below.
Kulumbegashvili was born and raised in Georgia, and studied film directing at Columbia University School of the Arts and media studies at The New School in New York. Her debut short film, Invisible Spaces, was nominated for The Palme D'Or at the Cannes International Film Festival in 2014. It was also the first film from independent Georgia to be part of the official competition at the Cannes International Film Festival. Kulumbegashvili was recently signed by CAA.
Ilan Amouyal is a producer based in Paris and New York. He holds degrees from Brandeis and Harvard, attended l’Atelier at La Fémis and graduated from Columbia University winning the EP award for best producer in 2017. His projects have aired on HBO, played at the Cannes Film Festival (Directors Fortnight), IFF Rotterdam, and MoMA’s New Directors-New Films. In 2017, he produced Rust in Peace and La dernière Nuit starring Mélanie Thierry.
At mubi.com/student, students can get an extended 30 day trial to watch the film for free.
