In Bloom

In Bloom (original title Grzeli nateli dgeebi), co-directed by Nana Ekvtimishvili and Simon Groß as Ekvtimishvili's feature debut, follows two 14 year old friends in Tbilisi in 1992, in the shadow of the Abkhazian War just after the Soviet Union's collapse. The screenplay draws heavily on Ekvtimishvili's own childhood memories and the reality of Georgia during her youth. The film premiered at the 63rd Berlin Film Festival on February 19, 2013, winning the CICAE Prize. It won Best Film, the Heart of Sarajevo, at the Sarajevo Film Festival, where lead actresses Lika Babluani and Mariam Bokeria shared Best Actress. The film was selected as Georgia's official Oscar submission at the 86th Academy Awards, and holds a 90 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes. Who it's for: anyone curious about a Georgian film drawing on its director's own childhood memories, set amid the chaos following the Soviet collapse, where two young actresses shared a festival's Best Actress prize. Who it's not for: viewers wanting a comfortable, light coming of age film, since this directly confronts the harshness of a society in the shadow of war.