Georgian director Dea Kulumbegashvili’s debut feature Beginning (2020) revolving around the oppressed religious sect brings together quite a number of references from antic mythology, mystical tradition, social issues of contemporary Georgia, Renaissance art, and mostly the imagery of the acclaimed masters of cinema.
Cannes 2020 selected Déa Kulumbegashvili’s ‘Beginning’ (Dastaskisi) was supposed to play in competition along with Wes Anderson’s ‘The French Dispatch.’ While the former had a drip-drip-drip release since September, I assume nobody but Anderson has seen the latter. Cannes, for its glory, selected Steve McQueen’s ‘Mangrove’ and ‘Lovers Rock’ to play in the competition. They picked Nir Bergman’s ‘Here We Are’ and Francis Lee’s ‘Ammonite,’ too. My money, however, would have been on ‘Beginning’ to be the next ‘Parasite’.