Taming the Garden
Film
Synopsis
A powerful man, who is also the former prime minister of Georgia, has developed an exquisite hobby. He collects century old trees along Georgia’s coastline. He commissions his men to uproot them and bring them to his private garden. Some of these trees are as tall as 15-floor-buildings. And in order to transplant a tree of such dimensions some other trees are chopped down, electric cables are shifted and new roads are paved through mandarin plantations.
The film moves the concept of uprooting from its metaphorical meaning into an oppressive, tangible and yet surreal reality.
Director
Salomé Jashi was born in Tbilisi, Georgia in 1981. She first studied journalism and worked as a reporter for several years. In 2005 she was awarded a British Council scholarship to study documentary filmmaking at Royal Holloway, University of London.
Salomé’s The Dazzling Light of Sunset (2016) was awarded the Main Prize at Visions du Réel’s Regard Neuf Competition as well as at ZagrebDox, Jihlava IDFF, Valdivia IDFF, and several other festivals. Her earlier work, Bakhmaro (2011), made in co-production with ma.ja.de. filmproduktion and MDR/Arte, received an Honorary Mention for a Young Documentary Talent at DOK Leipzig, was awarded as the Best Central and Eastern European Documentary at Jihlava IDFF, and was nominated for the Asia Pacific Screen Awards and Silver Eye Awards.
Salomé is the founder of two production companies: Sakdoc Film and Microcosmos, both producing documentaries and fiction of high artistic quality. She was a fellow of Nipkow Scholarship in 2017 and DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program in 2020.
Salomé Jashi's statement on Taming the Garden:
"There are many things I would like to say with this movie – maybe a few too many, in fact. None of them are straight up in your face. It’s entirely up to the viewers to uncover these layers – they can uncover as much as they want, as much as they see fit, coming from their own perspective and experience. To me, this film is like the experience of hiking in nature. Maybe you hear a howl in the distance for a moment or notice the grass swaying oddly in the gentle breeze, or you feel a sudden gust of cold air on your sweaty neck. At times, these moments evoke visceral feelings, and at other times, they are pure facts. In this way, the film becomes an individual experience."
Awards
Docudays UA - International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival 2021
Main Prize
CineEco Seia Festival
Grand Prix Environment CineEco
CineFest Miskolc
Winner of the CineDocs Film Competition
Cinetekton
Best Feature Documentary
CinéDOC Tbilisi
Special Jury Mention
Cinéma du Réel - festival international du film documentaire 2021
Mention Spéciale (Prix du Jury des Jeunes)
FICMEC - Festival Internacional de Cine Medioambiental de Canarias 2021
Best Feature Documentary
FICUNAM - Festival Internacional de Cine UNAM 2021
Best Feature Film
Golden Apricot International Film Festival
FIPRESCI Award of the Regional Panorama
Festival Interférences
Jury Award
Film Art Festival Mecklenburg-Pomerania
Best Documentary
Umeå European Film Festival
Film Prize "Rödspoven"
IFF Message to Man
Best Documentary
International Filmfestival ELBE DOCK
Special Mention
Visioni dal Mondo
International Jury Special Mention
Majordocs
Special Jury Award for Artistic Achievement
Qara Film Festival
Special Jury Prize
Tacoma Film Festival
Best Cinematography
Tbilisi International Film Festival
Best Documentary
Underhill Fest
Best Film in International Competition
Credits
Directed and Written by
Salomé Jashi
Producers
Vadim Jendreyko, Erik Winker, Martin Roelly, Salomé Jashi
Directors of Photography
Goga Devdariani, Salomé Jashi
Editor
Chris Wright
Sound Design
Philippe Ciompi
Music Supervisor
Celia Stroom
Researcher
Tamara Mshvenieradze
Line Producer
Pascal Moor
Associate Producers
Hercli Bundi, Susanne Guggenberger, Ümit Uludag, Anna Dziapshipa
A Coproduction of
Mira Film, CORSO Film, Sakdoc Film
Financially supported by
Federal Office for Culture Switzerland (FOC), Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, Eurimages, Fachausschuss Film und Medienkunst BS / BL, Georgian National Film Center, IDFA Bertha Fund, Succès Passage Antenne, SRG SSR
Technical Details
Format
DCPLength
91minColor
falseYear
2021Original Language
GeorgianSubtitles
English, GermanCountry
Switzerland, Germany, GeorgiaISAN
0000-0005-AA30-0000-3-0000-0000-S