Tsminda Electroenergia (Holy Electricity). 2024. Directed by Tato Kotetishvili

Film

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Holy Electricity (Tsminda Electroenergia). 2024. Georgia/Netherlands. Directed by Tato Kotetishvili. Courtesy the filmmaker

Tsminda Electroenergia (Holy Electricity). 2024. Georgia/Netherlands. Directed by Tato Kotetishvili. US premiere. In Georgian; English subtitles. 95 min.

Winner of the Golden Leopard in Locarno’s Concorso Cineasti del Presente section, Tato Kotetishvili’s debut feature is suffused with tenderness and danger alike. When young Gonga and his bookie-pressured cousin Bart find a bag of rusty crosses, they decide to fashion them into neon crucifixes and, something like Paper Moon transposed to Tbilisi, sell them door-to-door. Holy Electricity contains nary a clichéd or predictable image, nor one scenario Kotetishvili doesn’t exploit for all its comedic, dramatic, and emotional potential. It’s rare to see a film of such formal confidence assume so many new shapes and sizes (with a hilarious documentary parody for good measure), surprising us all the way to its final, ecstatic shot.

This film accompanies New Directors/New Films 2025.

Past events

Sun, Apr 13, 2025, 3:00 p.m.

Followed by a conversation with Tato Kotetishvili

MoMA, Floor T2, Theater 2

The Roy and Niuta Titus Theater 2
Sat, Apr 12, 2025, 5:00 p.m.

Followed by a conversation with Tato Kotetishvili

Film at Lincoln Center, Walter Reade Theater

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