18/04/2005

The French company Les Films de la Strada is currently finishing the post-production of Tzameti by Gela Babluani. This film is not only the young Georgia-born director’s first feature, but it is also a first time for the production company which has produced so far, since its creation in 2000, only shorts and documentaries. It is not a last time though for Les Films de la Strada since another feature will immediately follow and start shooting next summer : L’âme perdue du sommet by Temour Babluani (Gela’s father), starring Sylvie Testud and Stanislas Mehrar. This film is the Georgian director’s first movie since The Sun of the Wakeful which won the Silver Bear 1993 in Berlin.

Tzameti ("Thirteen"), by 26-year-old Gela Babluani, is a black-and-white thriller starring Georges Babluani, Aurélien Recoing (L’Emploi du temps), and Augustin Legrand. It depicts the eventful story of a young man who accepts to work on a roof in order to make ends meet. When his employer dies, he is caught into clandestine gambling activities while a police inspector investigates on his boss’ death. Tzameti, which was initially supposed to be a middle-length film, was produced with a very small budget. It should be released in September 2005. MK2 will handle international sales.

As for Temour Babluani’s L’âme perdue du sommet, 400,000 of his €2M budget come from an advance on admissions from the Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC). This film is the story of two Occidental citizens (Sylvie Testud and Stanislas Mehrar) involved in a revenge, Georgia style ; it allows the director to point at the contradictions between the West-European and the Caucasian perspectives. L’âme perdue du sommet will be shot this summer in France and Georgia, which should take 10 weeks. This film is definitely a great opportunity for Les Films de la Strada to grow, as its three founders (Fanny Saadi, Gela Babluani, and Jean-Baptiste Legrand) must have thought.