Following up her visually staggering debut Beginning, Dea Kulumbegashvili returned last year with her second feature April, which picked up the Special Jury Prize at Venice, and will now arrive in theaters, of course, in April. Following the journey of an obstetrician who offers abortions to local women, it’s a mesmerizing, harrowing odyssey that was also a selection at TIFF, NYFF, and Sundance. Ahead of its April 25 release from Metrograph Pictures, the first U.S. trailer and poster have now arrived.
Here’s the synopsis: “Winner of the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival, acclaimed director Dea Kulumbegashvili (Beginning) returns with her latest boundary pushing work, April. Skilled obstetrician Nina is accused of malpractice when a baby dies during delivery. The ensuing investigation threatens to expose Nina’s illegal sideline: offering abortions to local women. Nina remains fiercely committed to her patients, but she must walk a razor’s edge in order to survive as a pariah in a world which desperately needs her. Set against the backdrop of the starkly beautiful Georgian countryside, Kulumbegashvili’s prescient sophomore feature employs a mesmerizing visual and sonic language to create an immersive experience about the resilience of the human will.”
Savina Petkova said in her Venice review, “Beginning was produced by Carlos Reygadas and April sports Luca Guadagnino’s name under his company Frenesy, but Kulumbegashvili doesn’t need any such clout: her filmmaking is so singular, it speaks for itself. It does, indeed, speak, but the director’s distaste for conventional cinematic language (or any linguistic, semantic, discursive shorthands for that matter) manifests as reinvention. “
See the trailer below and read our interview with the director here.
