Nika and Nodo, two crusaders in contemporary Tbilisi, smell business opportunities when giant neon crucifixes appear around town. But selling home-size copies door-to-door turns out less successful than expected. Adding 'holy electricity' as an extra feature seems lucrative, but Nika fears to be doomed to hell. The film is described as a black comedy about the power of religion and the dangers of gullibility.
„The worlds in which my films are set are very important to me; they almost become characters in their own right. For Holy Electricity I have chosen Tbilisi, an eclectic city on the crossroads of Europe and Asia. Tbilisi has gone through many periods and regimes, all of them leaving their visual scars. After the collapse of the USSR Tbilisi plunged in total chaos. The state was not able to take care of its population, in fact there was no functional state for a long time. As there were constant black-outs, people became creative in stealing electricity through any possible providing point, such as lampposts and embassies. The whole city was wired up in a crazy way. Installing 'holy electricity' is the continuation of this tradition: a tradition of adapting everything for your own survival,“ Tato Koketishvili told FNE.
The film is produced by Irakli Metreveli through the Georgian company Zango Studio and coproduced by Nushi Film. The project received a production grant of 125,000 EUR / 400,000 GEL from the Georgian National Film Center in 2020. The total budget is 300,000 EUR / 1,035,000 GEL.
„As of today, the project is in its late development stage, though it has already brought quite a lot of attention to itself. The project won the Hubert Bals Fund Development grant of 9,000 EUR / 31,050 GEL. The Amsterdam-based company The Film Kitchen (Ineke Kanters and Jan van der Zanden) in association with the company Stout & Smits, Ineke Smits, who is also a project coach for our team, are applying for a HBF NFF grant of 50,000 EUR / 172,500 at the Dutch Film Fund this fall, and we have a serious interest from the Dutch distribution company MOKUM FILMDISTRIBUTIE for a Dutch release. Together with our partners we will be looking for a third European country to join, possibly Poland,“ Irakli Metreveli told FNE.
The film is in preproduction, with casting of the main actors currently underway. The date of the premiere is to be determined.
„Right now, together with our Dutch partners, we are in the financing stage. We also plan to attend several pitching forums to find future partners such as sales agents, distributors and festival representatives,“ Metreveli told FNE.
Tato Kotetishvili (1987, Georgia) is a filmmaker and photographer. He was educated in Cinematography at the Polish National Film School (PWSFTViT) in Lodz. Afterwards, Kotetishvili worked on several award-winning films as a cinematographer and later as a filmmaker and director of photography of his own short films, Watermelon (2012) and Ogasavara (2015).
Production Information:
Producer:
Irakli Metreveli (Zango Studio) (Georgia)
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Tekla Machavariani (Nushi Film) (Georgia)
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Credits:
Director: Tato Kotetishvili
Screenwriters: Tato Kotetishvili, Irine Jordania, Lasha Tskvitinidze
DOP: Irakli Metreveli
GEO Producers: Irakli Metreveli, Tekla Machavariani
