This month we celebrate Georgia, with a multi award winning film from Juliette Bertucelli, who worked on films by Otar Ioseliani and Krystov Kieslowki before this first feature.

Set against the picturesque decay of Tbilisi, Georgia, we follow three generations of women, with their distinct relationships to their country, as they eagerly devour any communictaion from their brother/son Otar.

Otar has moved to France, but Marina, his sister, learns of his death in an industrial accident. She decides to keep this from their mother...a beautifully crafted picture, not to be missed.

Awards

The film got excellent international critical acclaim.

It won the coveted Critics' Week Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, and also the Best First Film Prize at the French Cinema Awards (Cesars, equivalent to the BAFTAS).

The story of the actress playing the grand-mother...

The story of Esther Gorintin, playing the grand-mother in the film (photo), is very inspiring and pretty much totally amazing...

Her real name is Esther Gurinsztejn. She is of Jewish/Russian/Polish origin, was born in 1913 and it is an absolute miracle if she survived the Holocaust.

She has had many jobs but at 85 years old, she suddenly decided to try and have an acting career. She saw an advert in a newspaper: a director was looking for an old actress who could speak French and Russian, and who had a real Yiddish accent.

She went to the casting and got the job straight away - that was for the beautiful film Voyages from Emmanuel Finkiel (1999). She is amazing in Since Otar Left, acting with great simplicity and grace.

She is now leading a very successful acting career, and travelling all around Europe to play with directors such as Mathieu Amalric, Alain Corneau (famous French directors) and Pavel Lounguine (Russian). "I always play roles for old women" she says, surprised.

There is a beautiful article about her, in French (!), in the French newspaper Le Monde, that you can read here.