April
15
Why watch?
“April is a beautiful, if at times harrowing, piece of filmmaking but the Georgian setting perhaps allows one to imagine this is a far away set of problems which the film is exploring. I watched it mindful of the access to health care I am lucky enough to have, the barriers to access I might face and the myriad of ways in which those barriers are becoming more not less entrenched not only for me but for my community. These are deep thoughts to drift into in the cinema auditorium but also powerful and timely.”
Wendy,
Head of Cinema
Jumbo Records' Jack recommends April
Nina is the best obstetrician in her area, but after a new-born dies during a difficult birth, suspicion for negligence is directed at her. Stoically unshakeable in her beliefs, her standing in the small town is further jeopardised by the community’s knowledge that she also provides illegal abortion services to local women.
Produced by Luca Guadagnino, the film balances deeply challenging themes with a stunning cinematography capturing the Georgian countryside. Whilst longer meditative scenes of realism give way to sometimes nightmarish and surreal imagery April remains a complex and disquieting depiction of social and religious politics of birth, abortion rights and the status of women in contemporary Georgia.
Details
“Lovers of that elusive quasi-genre “slow cinema” might detect affinities with directors such as Béla Tarr, Carlos Reygadas or the late Chantal Akerman. But Kulumbegashvili is very much exploring her own path here, fearlessly so.”
Jonathan Romney, Financial Times
“Confirms Dea Kulumbegashvili as one of the world’s most visceral filmmakers”
David Ehrlich, IndieWire
“A deeply unsettling meditation on sexuality and transgression.”
Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
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