Sandro Souladzé
Writer-director
Georgia
Director and writer Sandro Souladze was born in Tbilisi, Georgia, in 1988 in the family of filmmakers. At 23, he applied to Shota Rustaveli Film and Theater Georgia State University where he got his master’s degree in filmmaking. In 2016, he co-founded a production company Orni Films.
Before graduation, he shot three short films – THE VIOLINIST, THE BLACK GOO and TUTA. Sandro’s films have traveled around various international film festivals including Filmfestival Cottbus, Trieste IFF, Tbilisi IFF, Arctic Film Festival, Art-House Film Festival of St. Petersburg (Winner), Grand Off – World Independent Short Film Awards, UNICEF Innocenti Film Festival, and many others.
Sandro is TorinoFilmLab and Berlinale Talents alum. THE WATCHERS, his first independent short was developed there in the framework of Short Form Station. The project got production funding from the Georgian National Film Center and Georgian Public broadcaster. Post-production service was provided by Di Factory in Poland. The film had its world premiere at Raindance Film Festival.
Project
Sādhvī
On a hot summer day, a motorbike stops in a small Mingrelian village, in western Georgia. It’s Kessa, she’s visiting her uncle and grandma. Surprising them with the news about the decision to sell her property where once her family house was standing. The task proves to be difficult since the village was a scene of war crimes during the Georgian civil war. Kessa’s family was one of many victims and the property she’s trying to sell is nothing but a graveyard, according to grandma.
But Kessa seems determined and doesn’t hurry at all. Her attention is soon directed to a young woman she sees in a grocery shop. Her unusual eyes and neglected look arouse Kessa’s curiosity and she finds out that even though she has no memory of her, something about the girl is connected to Kessa’s past and it forces her to dig deeper into her traumatic memories. To see the strange girl again, Kessa goes on a mental journey where dream and reality seem to merge into a vision of reawakening traumas.
