The materiality of writing has major implications for the practice of history...When you look at a ‘medieval’ Javanese manuscript, it is almost always an 18th or 19th century copy of a copy of a copy ... and so on.
Above The Shadows Qartulad 【Direct — 2025】
For international audiences unfamiliar with the context, Above the Shadows presents a deceptively simple plot. Set in a remote, war-torn village near the disputed territory of Abkhazia, the film follows a lonely beekeeper named Mindia. His world consists of wooden hives, the drone of bees, and the constant, invisible line of a border that cuts through his land. When a mysterious fugitive crosses that line, Mindia is forced to make a choice: remain invisible or step into the light.
Above the Shadows (ზემოთ ჩრდილებზე) is a triumph of “slow cinema” with a political heart. It reminds us that the longest shadows are not cast by mountains, but by the borders we draw in our own backyards. above the shadows qartulad
Ovashvili is a master of the long take. In Above the Shadows , dialogue is sparse; the real conversation happens in the landscapes. The cinematography by Giorgi Shvelidze captures the lush, dangerous greenery of the Caucasus with a lens that feels both loving and claustrophobic. The “shadows” of the title are literal (the shade of trees, the darkness of a cellar) and metaphorical (the shadow of war, of political stalemate, of personal trauma). When a mysterious fugitive crosses that line, Mindia
