Déa Kulumbegashvili is a Georgian

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

and writer, of Ossetian origin. She is known for her 2020 film ''

Beginning Beginning may refer to: * ''Beginning'' (album), by Pakho Chau * ''Beginning'' (play), a 2017 play by David Eldridge * ''Beginning'' (film), a Georgian-French drama film *"Beginning", a song by heavy metal band Kotipelto *"Beginning", a 2018 track ...

'', which won and was nominated for numerous awards. Kulumbegashvili was born in Oriol, Russia (Oryol), and raised in a small town called

Lagodekhi Lagodekhi ( ka, ლაგოდეხი) is a town, located at the foot of the Greater Caucasus mountains between the rivers Lagodekhiskhevi and Shromiskhevi, in the historical region of Hereti (now part of Kakheti). Lagodekhi has a number of ...

at the foot of the

Caucasus Mountains The Caucasus Mountains, : pronounced * hy, Կովկասյան լեռներ, : pronounced * az, Qafqaz dağları, pronounced * rus, Кавка́зские го́ры, Kavkázskiye góry, kɐfˈkasːkʲɪje ˈɡorɨ * tr, Kafkas Dağla ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. Her filmmaking has been informed by her experience of growing up in a place with such a mix of ethnicities and nationalities. She went to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, where she enrolled in the

Media Studies Media studies is a discipline and field of study that deals with the content, history, and effects of various media; in particular, the mass media. Media Studies may draw on traditions from both the social sciences and the humanities, but mostly ...

course at

The New School The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers. ...

, before earning a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admini ...

in Film Directing at

Columbia University School of the Arts The Columbia University School of the Arts, (also known as School of the Arts or SoA) is the fine arts graduate school of Columbia University in Morningside Heights, New York. It offers Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degrees in Film, Visual Arts, ...

, where she enrolled in 2014. Kulumbegashvili's debut short film, ''Ukhilavi Sivrtseebi'' (''Invisible Spaces''), was nominated for the

Palme d’Or The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...

at the

2014 Cannes Film Festival The 67th Cannes Film Festival was held from 14 to 25 May 2014. New Zealand film director Jane Campion was the head of the jury for the main competition section. The Palme d'Or was awarded to the Turkish film '' Winter Sleep'' directed by Nuri Bi ...

. In it, editor

Rati Oneli Rati ( sa, रति, ) is the Hindu goddess of love, carnal desire, lust, passion, and sexual pleasure. Usually described as the daughter of ''Prajapati'' Daksha, Rati is the female counterpart, the chief consort and the assistant of Kama (Ka ...

played the father, one of three characters in a film about tensions in a small family. Her second short film, ''Lethe'', premiered at the

2016 Cannes Film Festival The 69th Cannes Film Festival was held from 11 to 22 May 2016. Australian director George Miller was the President of the Jury for the main competition. French actor Laurent Lafitte was the host for the opening and closing ceremonies. On 15 Marc ...

in 2016. Both films were shown at

MoMA Moma may refer to: People * Moma Clarke (1869–1958), British journalist * Moma Marković (1912–1992), Serbian politician * Momčilo Rajin (born 1954), Serbian art and music critic, theorist and historian, artist and publisher Places ; Ang ...

in New York and also at many other film festivals. She was co-writer and co-producer, with Rati Oneli (who also directed), of the feature-length documentary ''City of the Sun'' (2015–2017). In 2016, Kulumbegashvili was awarded the 2016 Tsinandali Cinema Art Award in Georgia. ''

'' (2020) is Kulumbegashvili's first feature film. Originally given the working title ''Naked Sky'', the film was awarded a production grant by the

International Film Festival Rotterdam The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is an annual film festival held at the end of January in various locations in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Since its foundation in 1972, it has maintained a focus on independent and experimental fi ...

(IFFR), and Kulumbegashvili was given the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

''Cinéfondation'' residence in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, and other assistance with development by the

Sam Spiegel International Film Lab The Sam Spiegel Film and Television School is a film and television school in Israel that was founded in 1989. It was renamed in honor of Sam Spiegel in 1996, with the support of the Sam Spiegel Estate. The school has been the subject of some 19 ...

Sofia International Film Festival Sofia International Film Festival (SIFF) (Bulgarian: ''Международен София Филм Фест, София Филм Фест''), also known as Sofia Film Fest, is an annual film festival in Sofia, capital city of Bulgaria, taking pla ...

, and the

Sarajevo Film Festival The Sarajevo Film Festival is the premier and largest film festival in Southeast Europe, and is one of the largest film festivals in Europe. It was founded in Sarajevo in 1995 during the siege of Sarajevo in the Bosnian War, and brings internation ...

. The film debuted at the

Toronto Film Festival Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anchor ...

in September 2020 and has won several awards.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kulumbegashvili, Dea Film directors from Georgia (country) Women film directors from Georgia (country) Living people Year of birth missing (living people)

References

Further reading

External links