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8 July 2018: Namme

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Namme
Zaza Khalvashi
2017 | 91 min | Colour | Digital
Georgian with English subtitles
Introduced by Sonali Joshi

In a village set amid the striking, desolate landscape of the Georgian mountains, a family acts as guardian of a local healing spring used to cure sick villagers. When the three sons leave home, only the young daughter Namme is left to take over the role and continue the family tradition. While their father wishes for all of them to be healers, only Namme, a young girl with a quiet yet mystical nature, truly inherits the healing gift. Juxtaposing elements of modernity against tradition, the construction of a hydroelectric power station looms in the backdrop of this pristine landscape. Environmental questions arise as the healing spring dries up, and Namme’s father recalls the old belief that the water cannot return unless a sacrifice is made. Despite her mystical powers, Namme is a normal girl longing for a normal life. When one day she falls in love, she loses her ability to heal others...

The constant flow of water in one form or another serves as an ever-present motif throughout the film, while the film’s soundscape plays on shifts between sound and silence in this poignant contemporary fable and a remarkable piece of poetic cinema.


Part of Aperture: Asia & Pacific Film Festival