Georgian director’s sci-fi drama set to debut on screen this year

Georgia’s contemporary cinema scene will be bolstered with an addition of a science fiction drama In Her Image by Nikoloz Kevkhishvili, first screened last year in the United States and set for more screen appearances in 2018.

In a rare Georgian release in the genre, the newly produced short was unveiled by its creators last fall before receiving an official trailer last week.

Featuring a cast led by Ia Sukhitashvili, Zaal Chikobava and Luka Akhvlediani, the film follows Maia, a scientist who creates a virtual child for herself together with a friend.

Maia’s happiness at the creation soon turns into despair and struggle as the new mother is pitted against a company set out to terminate the program which birthed the digital adolescent.

Aspiring to turn the artificial intelligence into a real child, the protagonist loses the distinction between fiction and reality and "searches for her son in the labyrinths of virtual reality risking everything to get him back”, said a preview from creators.

Featuring a score by Zviad Mghebrishvili and photography by Sandro Wysocki, In Her Image was filmed at locations in Tbilisi, with post production work in the United States.

Kevkhishvili (left) and his crew filmed scenes at locations in Georgia's capital. Photo: ‘In Her Image’ film Facebook page.

First screened at the Schwartz Centre for Performing Arts in Atlanta in October 2017, the production was later selected for the Hollywood International Moving Pictures Film Festival earlier this month.

The film marks a new work for the director, who released his previous work Saerto Ena in 2014.