DEA KULUMBEGASHVILI

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At the moment, I travel around East Georgia … Spring is mesmerizing here. The weather changes several times a day, and everything on my way comes unexpected. I am fascinated with the views of the mountains, walk through the fields, meet people, listen to the sound of the machines that cultivate land during a day, and cry of jackals at night, whistling sound of the wind … I do read at night while I stay at absolutely unremarkable hotel rooms. Even though how can I define anything as unremarkable? There is nothing that is unremarkable. I am fascinated by the contrast of the beautiful natural light and the light of the electric bulbs in the interiors.

I do not have a photo camera and I take pictures with my phone. I have thousands of pictures in my archive from my travels. Strangely enough I do not feel much need to have a photo camera anymore. Even though I do shoot analog while making films, digital images taken with my phone serve as my inspiration for compositions, for places and spaces. This is the easiest way to catalogue the thoughts and inspirations.

Something from what I read at nights and what comes back to my mind while walking through the villages during a day. My friend sent me some of the poems by Yeats and now I read them all obsessively. I tend to obsess over things, poetry, images, sounds … And I like to travel alone, to spend time alone. It allows me to have space for my obsessions, for just doing nothing, that I do consider the main part of the creative process. I love to walk with no aim, no reason…

    He wishes for the Cloths of Heaven
    by William Butler Yeats
    Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
    Enwrought with golden and silver light,
    The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
    Of night and light and the half light,
    I would spread the cloths under your feet:
    But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
    I have spread my dreams under your feet;
    Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

Below are some of the pictures from my recent travels … and some from the travels before I made Beginning…




This image is taken close to where I grew up, and where I shot Beginning… It did serve as an inspiration for the composition and the color palette of the film.






This one I took last week, in the same area. What fascinates me about this image is the magic moment of the nature and the mundane, plain objects and the building … This white warehouse looks so out of place but at the same time, it does exist and I cannot imagine this image without this building…






This is a portrait of my grandmother that I took maybe 10 years ago … I did recreate it as one of the shots in the film but in the film, it is my mother’s portrait…





Image by Arseni Khachaturan

My family is always my main source of inspiration. I could make films with them only




This is an image of my grandmother in her living room that I took maybe a month ago. I do not know why did she sit there in front of a TV that was not even on, and what was she looking at… or was she really looking at anything? She seemed to be focused on something, maybe lost in her thoughts… something she was remembering from the past? I did not ask. I do not need to know.











A photo of my nephew that I took a few years ago while working on a script for Beginning. He as well acts in a film the part of George, Yana’s son.


All images copyright of Dea Kulumbegashvili, unless credited otherwise

Dea Kulumbegashvili was born and raised in Georgia. She studied film directing at Columbia University School of the Arts in New York. She wrote and directed the short films INVISIBLE SPACES (2014) and LÉTHÉ (2016). BEGINNING (2020) is her first feature film.