34-year-old April makes her money illegally as a prostitute in the city centre of Tbilisi. With her upright gait, she inhabits murky urban landscapes and a hostile man’s world. When she’s once again hanging around the concrete pedestal of a luxury hotel with her fellow workers, she meets young Nigerian Dije. Dije originally intended to travel to Georgia in the USA – but got stranded in the country of the same name instead, with all future hopes gone. April decides to help him out. Or is it the other way round?
With the title of her debut feature I Am Truly a Drop of Sun on Earth, a quote from post-colonial author Frantz Fanon, Naveriani alludes to the film’s poetic dimension as well as to its spirit of political resistance. In her quiet, brooding drama, she skilfully conveys the impact of the architectural constructions of Tbilisi on society, and doesn’t shy away from strong images. We only know the bare facts about April and Dije. But the way in which they move through the city spaces that remain open to them reveals everything about their precarious situation and the society that surrounds them. The film chooses not to tell us much else via its sparse dialogue, instead opting for the careful staging of how its main characters walk, their gestures and looks, all of which forms the conduit for them to communicate their attitude to the world. And just as taciturn is the portrayal of how the fragile, interdependent relationship between these two lost souls develops.

Film series Hope & Fear