In a sleepy provincial town, a Jehovah’s Witness community is attacked by an extremist group. In the midst of this conflict, the familiar world of Yana, the wife of the community leader, slowly crumbles. Yana’s inner discontent grows as she struggles to make sense of her desires.

The lead roles are played by Ia Sukhitashvili, Rati Oneli, Kakha Kintsurashvili and Saba Gogichaishvili.

Dea Kulumbegashvili is a Georgian writer/director based in Tbilisi. Her debut short film Invisible Spaces was nominated for a Palme d’Or du Court Métrage at the Cannes Film Festival in 2014. Her second short film Léthé premiered at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival in the Directors’ Fortnight selection and played at dozens of other festivals around the world. For her debut feature Beginning she was invited to the Cannes’ Cinéfondation Residency and the Sam Spiegel International Film Lab in Jerusalem, where she won a prize, as she did at The Sofia Meetings and the Rotterdam Festival Hubert Bals Fund. Beginning was chosen to be part of the Official Selection at the 2020 Cannes Film Festival, as well as the San Sebastian Film Festival’s main competition (Awarded four nominations) and the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival (Awarded the FIPRESCI Prize).

The film was produced by First Picture (France) and coproduced by Zagid Films (France) and O.F.A (Georgia), with the support of the GNFC, JSFL, Netherlands Film Fonds and Hubert Bals Fund. Executive Producers are Carlos Reygadas and Gaetan Rousseau. The DoP is Arseni Khachaturan.