You are viewing a film from our
Spring 2023 programme.
Taming the Garden
Sunday 15th January 5:00 PM - Alhambra
Director:Salomé Jashi
Cert:15 Year: 2021 Length:91mins
Country:Switzerland, Germany, Georgia Language:Georgian
If you thought the super-rich in 'Triangle of Sadness' were a trifle mad (!), then wait till you see this one. The difference is that this is a documentary.
The film follows the whims of Bidzina Ivanishvili, the ex-president of Georgia. Now a billionaire, he has a hobby. He collects... trees. "But not just any trees: he favours huge, ancient and rare examples that have been a constant in the lives of the people of the Black Sea coast for generations. The chosen trees are gouged out of the ground, leaving raw gashes of stripped topsoil, and transported at vast expense and inconvenience to their new home, the Shekvetili Dendrological Park. ...his autocratic whims – part folly, part power flex – are the subject of much debate among the Georgian people. Some are gung-ho: he builds roads in order to transport the trees, improving the infrastructure of the area, they argue. More often, though, they weep over the aftermath of this ego-driven environmental vandalism" – Wendy Ide, Guardian.
The director, Salomé Jashi, was inspired to make the film – which took her and her crew two years to make - when she saw the tree floating by on a boat shown in the poster. She decided to make the documentary, leaving the local people and the viewer to make their own minds up about this strange juxtaposition of beauty and devastation.
Footnote: you may be pleased to know that his garden is now open to the public.
Critics
“Magnificent visuals and a moving tale of arboreal anthropomorphism.”
“Providing a devastating metaphor for a world gone mad, this is a poetic, provocative example of how a hard-hitting documentary tug on the communal conscience can also be wittily artistic.”
Trailer
Staying in Keswick for the Festival?
Keswick Film Festival has joined forces with Sally's Cottages, an award-winning holiday cottage company run by people that
love the Lake District and Cumbria, with an office just across the road from our beloved Alhambra Cinema.
Over 260 beautiful holiday cottages in and around Keswick.
Book Now
Visit www.sallyscottages.co.uk,
email sallys@holidaycottages.co.uk,
or call 01768 720615.
Keswick Film Festival is supported by Film Hub North with National Lottery funding on behalf of the BFI Film Audience Network.
All programme and film details are correct at the time of publishing but may be subject to change.