In ‘Citizen Saint,’ Georgian Director Tinatin Kajrishvili Asks What If God Was One of Us
variety.comMarta Balaga Karlovy Vary Film Festival’s main competition section is about to witness a miracle thanks to Tinatin Kajrishvili’s third feature “Citizen Saint,” about small-town miners suddenly discovering that their protector has literally come down from the cross and into their lives.
Kajrishvili, already known to festival audiences thanks to Berlinale titles “Brides” and “Horizon,” wasn’t trying to make a religious film, she states.
She was more interested in the power of hope and the lengths most people will go in order to preserve it.“Georgians are very religious and one day, a guy appeared in my neighborhood, calling himself ‘Saint Nicolas.’ His followers found him an apartment, and they would just stand in front of his house, praying.
Whenever he would open a window, or throw a tomato at them, they would just pick it up and consider it as a blessing,” recounts the director, who co-wrote the script with Basa Janikashvili. “After one year, he became ‘King Nariman.’ Now, he even has a Facebook page where his followers talk about his ‘miracles’.
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