Elene Naveriani
Still: Blackbird Blackbird BlackberryElene NAVERIANI (1985, Georgia) is a director living in Switzerland. They graduated in Monumental Painting from the Tbilisi State Academy of Art in 2003. After a Master’s in Critical Curatorial Cybermedia at the HEAD – Geneva (Geneva School of Art and Design), they started their studies in Cinema. Their graduation short film Gospel of Anasyrma (2014) was acclaimed for its distinctive signature and stance. Elene practises a cinema of resistance: their work makes invisible stories visible, unheard voices heard and creates a space for marginalised lives.
In keeping with that sentiment, their first feature I Am Truly a Drop of Sun on Earth (2017) premiered in Rotterdam and was awarded numerous prizes (Seoul, Xining, Valladolid, Porto). Elene also directed a further two short films that received considerable acclaim. Red Ants Bite (2019) was nominated for the best Swiss short film award.
In 2021, their second feature film Wet Sand had its World Premiere in Locarno in August 2021 to glowing reviews and earned the Best Actor’s prize.
Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry (2023), selected for IFFR 2024, received the Hubert Bals Fund 2021.
Filmography
Elene Naveriani at IFFR
Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry
In a small provincial town in Georgia, Etero, a 48-year-old spinster, leads her own little revolution.
100'
Switzerland
CM 2022
I Am Truly a Drop of Sun on Earth
61'
Switzerland
IFFR 2017
Red Ants Bite
Two Nigerian men stranded in Georgia, wander around Tbilisi. They find comfort in paddling and sharing their sorrows together.
23'
Switzerland
IFFR 2020
Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry
A penetrating portrait of a fiercely independent woman’s late sexual awakening in small-town Georgia.
110'
Georgia
IFFR 2024