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Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry poster
3rd May 2024

Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry

A film by Elene Naveriani

2024Also on disc & on demand

Synopsis

Etero, a 48-year-old woman living in a small village in Georgia, never wanted a husband. She cherishes her freedom as much as her cakes. But her choice to live alone is the cause of much gossip among her fellow villagers. Unexpectedly, she finds herself passionately falling for a man, and is suddenly faced with the decision to pursue a relationship or continue a life of independence. Etero must grapple with her feelings and decide how to find her own path to happiness.

Eka Chavleishvili was awarded Best Actress in both the Belfast and Dublin Film Festivals.

BBFC cert 15

Release supported by



Where It's On

21 June onwards

David Lean Katherine Street Croydon CR9 1ET 020 3411 1243 25 June
Chichester Cinema New Park Road Chichester P019 7XY 01243 786650 23 & 25 June
Berkhamsted Rex High Street Berkhamsted HP4 2FG 01442 877759 24 June
Garden Cinema 39-41 Parker St London WC2B 5PQ 020 3369 5000 24 June
Corn Exchange Market Place Newbury RG14 5BD 01635 522 733 12 & 17 July
Strode Theatre Church Rd Street BA16 0AB 01458 442846 18 July
Roses Theatre Sun St Tewkesbury GL20 5NX 01684 295074 22 & 25 July
Hull Independent Vue Cinema Hull Hull HU1 2PQ 6 August
ALSO ONLINE:
Curzon Home Cinema
BFI Player



Past screenings:
BFI London Film Festival - 10 & 11 Oct Republic of Ireland premiere - Dublin Film Festival Feb 26 Keswick Film Festival - Alhambra Cinema, 2 Mar.
Borderlines Film Festival - Courtyard Hereford, 2 & 7 Mar Malvern Theatres, 2 Mar Regal Tenbury Wells, 4 Mar Richard Booth Bookshop 8 Mar Assembly Rooms, Ludlow 12 Mar
Bridport Arts Centre April 24 Leeds Film preview April 27
Picturehouse Film Club: Tuesday 30th April, Picturehouses everywhere

Week commencing 3 May

ICA Cinema The Mall London SW1Y 1BN 020 7930 3647 all week
Ciné Lumière 17 Queensberry Place London SW7 2DT 020 7871 3515 all week
ArtHouse Crouch End 159 Tottenham Lane London N8 9BT 020 8245 3099 all week
Picturehouse Central 15 Great Windmill St London W1D 7DH 020 7326 2649 all week
Curzon Bloomsbury Brunswick Centre London WC1N 1AW 08719 642838 all week
Hackney Picturehouse 270 Mare St London E8 1HE 0207 326 2649 all week
Barbican Cinema Beech St London EC1Y 8AA 020 7870 2500 all week
Fulham Road Picturehouse 142 Fulham Rd London SW10 9QR 020 7326 2649 all week
Crouch End Picturehouse 165 Tottenham Lane London N8 9BY 020 7326 2649 all week
Garden Cinema 39-41 Parker St London WC2B 5PQ 020 3369 5000 all week
Curzon Wimbledon 23 The Broadway London SW19 1RE 08719 642838 all week
Arts Picturehouse 38-39 St Andrew's St Cambridge CB2 3AR 020 7326 2649 all week
Phoenix Picturehouse 57 Walton St Oxford OX2 6AE 020 7326 2649 all week
Chapter Market Rd Cardiff CF5 1QE 029 2031 1050 all week
GFT 12 Rose St Glasgow G3 6RB 0141 332 6535 all week
Cameo 38 Home St Edinburgh EH3 9LZ 0207 326 2649 all week
Depot Pinwell Road Lewes BN7 2JS 01273 525354 all week
Little Theatre Cinema St Michaels Place Bath BA1 1SF 020 7326 2649 all week
Tyneside 10 Pilgrim St Newcastle NE1 6QG 0191 227 5500 all week
HOME 2 Tony Wilson Place Manchester M15 4FN 0161 200 1500 all week
Watershed 1 Canon's Road Bristol BS1 5TX 0117 927 5100 all week
Phoenix 4 Midland Street Leicester LE1 1TG 0116 242 2800 all week
Showroom Cinema 15 Paternoster Row Sheffield S1 2BX 0114 275 6511 all week
Newlyn Filmhouse 23-31 The Coombe Newlyn, Penzance TR18 5HS 01736 332222 all week
Kino 3 Lion St Rye TN31 7LB 01797 226293 all week
Queens Film Theatre 20 University Square Belfast BT7 1PA 028 9097 1097 all week
IFI 6 Eustace St Dublin D02 PD85 01 679 5744 all week

Week commencing 10 May

ICA Cinema The Mall London SW1Y 1BN 020 7930 3647 10,11,15 May
Picturehouse Central 15 Great Windmill St London W1D 7DH 020 7326 2649 all week
Garden Cinema 39-41 Parker St London WC2B 5PQ 020 3369 5000 12,14,16 May
Curzon Bloomsbury Brunswick Centre London WC1N 1AW 08719 642838 all week
Quad Market Place Derby DE1 3AS 01332 290606 all week
Cine Lumiere 17 Queensberry Place London SW7 2DT 020 7871 3515 12,15 May
Barbican Cinema Beech St London EC1Y 8AA 020 7870 2500 12,16 May
Crouch End Picturehouse 165 Tottenham Lane London N8 9BY 020 7326 2649 13,14 May
Phoenix Cinema 52 High Rd London N2 9PJ 020 8444 6789 10,14,16 May
Depot Pinwell Road Lewes BN7 2JS 01273 525354 all week
Arts Picturehouse 38-39 St Andrew's St Cambridge CB2 3AR 020 7326 2649 13,15,16 May
Watershed 1 Canon's Road Bristol BS1 5TX 0117 927 5100 all week
HOME 2 Tony Wilson Place Manchester M15 4FN 0161 200 1500 11-12,13,15 May
Newlyn Filmhouse 23-31 The Coombe Newlyn, Penzance TR18 5HS 01736 332222 all week
IFI 6 Eustace St Dublin D02 PD85 01 679 5744 all week

Week commencing 17 May

ICA Cinema The Mall London SW1Y 1BN 020 7930 3647 17-19, 21 May
BFI Southbank Belvedere Rd London SE1 8XT 020 7928 3232 all week (not Wed)
Curzon Bloomsbury Brunswick Centre London WC1N 1AW 08719 642838 all week
Garden Cinema 39-41 Parker St London WC2B 5PQ 020 3369 5000 17,18,22 May
ArtHouse Crouch End 159 Tottenham Lane London N8 9BT 020 8245 3099 all week (not Wed)
Phoenix Cinema 52 High Rd London N2 9PJ 020 8444 6789 19, 22 May
Broadway Cinema 14 - 18 Broad St. Nottingham NG1 3AL 0115 952 6611 5 days only
Kiln Cinema 269 Kilburn High Rd London NW6 7JR 020 7328 1000 17,18,22,23 May
Eden Court Bishops Rd Inverness IV3 5SA 01463 234234 all week
Ultimate Picture Palace Jeune St Oxford OX4 1BN 01865 245288 17,18,20,23 May
Towner Devonshire Park Eastbourne BN21 4JJ 01323 434670 18,19,23, 24 May
Hebden Bridge Picture House New Rd Hebden Bridge HX7 8AD 01422 842807 19 & 23 May
Exeter Phoenix Gandy St Exeter EX4 3LS 01392 667080 17,18,20 May
Newlyn Filmhouse 23-31 The Coombe Newlyn, Penzance TR18 5HS 01736 332222 17,19,21 May
Cinema Cromarty IV11 8XZ 17 May

Week commencing 24 May

ICA Cinema The Mall London SW1Y 1BN 020 7930 3647 24-26, 29 May
Garden Cinema 39-41 Parker St London WC2B 5PQ 020 3369 5000 24,28,30 May
BFI Southbank Belvedere Rd London SE1 8XT 020 7928 3232 24,29.30 May
Lexi Cinema 194b Chamberlayne Rd London NW10 3JU 020 3011 5523 all week
Warwick Arts Centre University of Warwick Coventry CV4 7AL 024 7649 6000 24,25,26,27
Storyhouse Hunter St Chester CH1 2AR 01244 409113 26,27,29 May
Hyde Park Picture House 73 Brudenell Rd Leeds LS6 1JD 0113 275 2045 24-26 May
Firstsite Lewis Gardens, High St Colchester 01206 213 700 25 - 30 May
DCA 125 Nethergate Dundee DD1 4DY 01382 432444 all week
Newlyn Filmhouse 23-31 The Coombe Newlyn, Penzance TR18 5HS 01736 332222 24,27 May
Shetlands Arts Mareel Lerwick ZE1 0WQ 01595 743843 26,29 May

Week commencing 31 May

BFI Southbank Belvedere Rd London SE1 8XT 020 7928 3232 2,5,6 June
Courtyard Edgar St Hereford HR4 9JR 01432 340555 all week
ICA Cinema The Mall London SW1Y 1BN 020 7930 3647 4 June
The Palace Cinema Harbour St Broadstairs CT10 1ET 01843 865726 1,2, 4 June
Lexi Cinema 194b Chamberlayne Rd London NW10 3JU 020 3011 5523 3,5 June
MK Gallery 900 Midsummer Blvd Milton Keynes MK9 3QA 01908 676900 31/5, 1,4 June
Cube Dove St Bristol BS2 8JD 0117 907 4190 2,3 June
Ilkley Cinema 46a Leeds Rd Ilkley LS29 8DP 01943 660007 2-3, 4,6 June

Week commencing 7 June

ICA Cinema The Mall London SW1Y 1BN 020 9930 3647 7,11 June
Plymouth Arts Cinema Tavistock Place Plymouth PL4 8AT 01752 206114 7-13 June
Corn Exchange Market Place Wallingford OX10 0EG 01491 825000 7 June
JW3 341-351 Finchley Rd London NW3 6ET 020 7433 8988 9-10 June

Week commencing 14 June

Garden Cinema 39-41 Parker St London WC2B 5PQ 020 3369 5000 15,19 June
Lexi Cinema 194b Chamberlayne Rd London NW10 3JU 020 3011 5523 14,17 June
ICA Cinema The Mall London SW1Y 1BN 020 9930 3647 15 June
Stamford Arts Centre 27 St Mary's St Stamford PE9 2DL 01780 763203 14,15 June
South Hill Park Ringmead Bracknell RG12 7PA 01344 484123 18,19 June

From 7 June onwards

Plymouth Arts Cinema Tavistock Place Plymouth PL4 8AT 01752 206114 7-13 June
Corn Exchange Market Place Wallingford OX10 0EG 01491 825000 7 June
JW3 341-351 Finchley Rd London NW3 6ET 020 7433 8988 9-10 June
Stamford Arts Centre 27 St Mary's St Stamford PE9 2DL 01780 763203 14,15 June
South Hill Park Ringmead Bracknell RG12 7PA 01344 484123 18,19 June
The Rex High St Berkhamsted HP4 2FG 01442 877759 24 June
David Lean Katharine St Croydon CR9 1ET 020 3411 1243 25 June

Trailer

Director — Elene Naveriani

Elene Naveriani is a Georgian director now living in Switzerland. They graduated from the Tbilisi State Academy of Art in monumental painting in 2003. After a Master in Critical Curatorial Cybermedia at the HEAD – Geneva (Geneva School of Art and Design), they started their studies in Cinema. Their graduation short film GOSPEL OF ANASYRMA (2014) was acclaimed for their distinctive signature and stance.

Elene’s work is one that makes invisible stories visible, that makes unheard voices heard and creates a space for marginalised lives. Elene practises a cinema of resistance.

Their first feature I AM TRULY A DROP OF SUN ON EARTH (2017) premiered in Rotterdam and was awarded numerous prizes (Seoul, Xining, Valladolid, Porto). Elene also directed two further short films that received a lot of acclaim. RED ANTS BITE (2019) was nominated for best Swiss short film award and LANTSKY PAPA’S STOLEN OX (2018), a short documentary, premiered in Entrevues Belfort and won the Grand Prix Best Short. The film was also awarded in Tbilisi and Documenta Madrid.

In 2021, their second feature film WET SAND made its World Premiere in Locarno in August 2021 and earned the Best Actor’s Prize. Elene is currently developing two further feature projects.

Filmography

WET SAND, fiction, 115min (2021). 74° Locarno Film Festival – Pardo for Best Actor (Concorso Cineasti del presente), Viennale – Vienna International Film Festival 2021, Santiago de Compostela, Cineuropa 35, 28th Sarajevo Film Festival, San Francisco, 65th San Francisco International Film Festival, Solothurner Filmtage – Best Feature Film

RED ANTS BITE, fiction, 22min (2019). 23. International Kurzfilmtage Winterthur, 49th International Film Festival Rotterdam, Saguenay 24ème REGARD – Festival international du court-métrage, 26th Palm Springs International ShortFest, 34th Leeds International Film Festival, 18th Bogota Short Film Festival, Encounters Bristol – Special Mention 2020, Brest European short film festival – Departmental Council Award 2020

LANTSKY PAPA’S STOLEN OX, documentary, 29min (2018). Entrevues Belfort, Grand Prix Best Short, Tbilisi International Film Festival – Best Documentary, Documenta Madrid – Jury Mention in International Short Film Competition

I AM TRULY A DROP OF SUN ON EARTH, fiction, 61min (2017). 52. Solothurner Filmtage, 46th InternationalFilm F estival Rotterdam, 41a Mostra Internacional del Cinema de Sao Paulo, Tbilisi International Film Festival, Valladolid / Seminci, Best Photography Award, 32e Entrevues Belfort, Special Mention Prix du Long métrage Janine Bazin, 30ème Festival Premiers Plans d’Angers

GOSPEL OF ANASYRMA, fiction, 29min (2014). Festival Tous Ecrans – Festival international du film de Genève, 27e Festival Premiers Plans d'Angers, Kyiv International Short Film Festival KISFF 2015, Lisbon, 12th International Independent Film Festival Lisboa, Tel Aviv, 17th International Student Film Festival, Prix du public – XPosed Berlin

Cast & Credits

CAST
ETERO Eka Chavleishvili
MURMAN Temiko Chichinadze
NENO Pikria Nikabadze
TSISANA Anka Khurtsidze
LONDA Tamar Mdinaradze
NATELA Lia Abuladze
CREW
DIRECTOR Elene Naveriani
BASED ON THE BOOK BY Tamta Melashvili
ADAPTED FOR SCREEN BY Nikoloz Mdivani
Elene Naveriani
PRODUCTION COMPANIES Alva Film (CH)
Takes Film (GE)
PRODUCERS Thomas Reichlin
Britta Rindelaub
Ketie Daniela
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER Bettina Brokemper
(HEIMATFILM)
CINEMATOGRAPHER Agnesh Pakozdi
EDITOR Aurora Franco Vögeli
PRODUCTION SOUND MIXER Marc Von Stürler
SOUND DESIGNER AND MIXER Philippe Ciompi
PRODUCTION DESIGN Teo Baramidze
COSTUME DESIGNER Nino Injia
HAIR & MAKEUP Julia Nietlispach
SWITZERLAND / GEORGIA
(FLAT 1:85) (5.1, AND STEREO)
2023 - 110 MIN - (In Georgian)

Images

Click any still to enlarge
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The Critics

100% Rotten Tomatoes!!!

★★★★★ "Etero has never wanted a husband, preferring blackberry-picking, cake and solitude. "If marriage and dicks brought happiness many women would be happy," she tells a frisky customer in her store. ...The mischievous denouement will leave a smile on your face for days."
Tara Brady, The Irish Times

★★★★
"Here is a marvellously tender story of loneliness and love which starts with a bigger bang than most thrillers...has a cool and even rather deadpan self-assurance which shows the influence of Aki Kaurismäki or Elia Suleiman.  This is a gentle, sensual gem of a film."
Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

★★★★
"This will likely be a fair few people's low-key fave of 2024.
The film is beautifully staged and executed, maintaining well-defined emotional contours and never allowing things to descend into mainstream sentimentalism. Hopefully when the inevitable American remake comes along they don't crud it up too badly."
David Jenkins, Little White Lies

"A stoically independent Georgian woman in her late 40s experiences a gentle existential awakening during an affair with a local deliveryman in Elene Naveriani's offbeat, low-key drama. Naveriani has given us a most unusual feminist heroine, one experiencing the mischievous, rarely seen triumph of a woman coming into bloom just as those around her are beginning to fade: the last and sweetest blackberry on the bush."
Jessica Kiang,Variety

★★★★
"Lovely.
With deadpan charm, Elene Naveriani maintains a slow-burning vibe that ripples with underlying humour and tensions. The characters are wonderfully real, while the film has a colourful, sardonic Kaurismäki-like quality that's thoroughly winning. And the underlying message is hugely empowering.'
Rich Cline, Shadows On The Wall

"The promise of romance changes everything in Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry, the third feature from Elena Naveriani which paints an endearing, bittersweet portrait of an independent woman at the mercy of society’s entrenched expectations. An irresistible central performance from Eka Chavleishvili adds to the appeal of a film that should readily connect with audiences who embraced titles like Sebastian Lelio’s Gloria (2013)."
Allan Hunter, Screen International

"The title of Elene Naveriani's third feature makes poetry of natural imagery. If Ingmar Bergman hadn't got there first, it could just as easily have been called 'Autumn Sonata, focusing as it does on a solitary woman seemingly in the autumn of her life...who undergoes an existential awakening.
Naveriani's use of bold colours and deep shadow also recalls late-period Aki Kaurismäki, whose autumnally titled Fallen Leaves like Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry, premiered at Cannes this year.  Both films are about a solitary shop worker who embarks on a relationship in middle age; both films share a certain sense of timelessness, with few signifiers of modernity; both situate their romances in a gentle but unmistakable social critique.  In Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry, it's not so much capitalism under the microscope as gender conventions.  All Etero's friends have settled down and procreated with their husbands."
Arjun Sajip, Sight & Sound

"A striking ode to female independence...
As an audience, we don't know what the future holds for Etero any more than she does, but given what we've seen over the last two hours, we know whatever happens. Next, she will embrace it with the same passion and persistence of vision with which she's always led her life.  That is true independence."
Marya E. Gates, The Playlist

"The deliciously wry, gently unfurling tale of a middle-aged Georgian woman who rejects small-town conformity and experiments with love after a near-death experience."
Carmen Gray, The Film Verdict

★★★★
"Simple in its mysteriousness, Naveriani crafts an irresistible portrait of a lady.  Georgian filmmaker Elene Naveriani solidifies her gravitational pull towards examining rural social misfits with her elegant sophomore film.
"A rich character study of a strong willed woman who relishes her independence...
Nicholas Bell, ION Cinema


★★★★
'Wry, sensuous and surprisingly subversive, this gentle middle-aged romance ...
A sharp, no-shit-taken performance from Eka Chavleishvili shows up her fierce hunger for freedom and gorgeous woodland trysts, rather than the wifely drudgery of village life.'
Kate Stables, Total Film

"A work of incredible depth, intelligent and intuitive, which can teach us a thing or two about finding pleasure in life, even if we think that ship has sailed.
A film as charming as its title suggests. At times contemplative and always exploratory...tells a bittersweet love story in order to present a much sweeter one of self-love."
Savina Petkova, Cineuropa


"Chavleishvili plays the commanding Etero with a dry wit, a piercing gaze, and an uncommon sensitivity.
The film’s final shot, a knockout scene happy to exist in the liminal space between dashed dreams and attained longings of a new lease on life and the unwanted ending of a chapter, is a well-spring of emotional ambiguity used as a vehicle for an incredible sense of awe by Chavleishvili. Like its protagonist, the spellbinding sensibilities of “Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry” are a treat to behold."
Robert Daniels, RogerEbert.com

"...In a harsh and judgemental world...this is a story that exceeds its love story status.
A counterpoint to the ordinary lives on show, the film’s production design also pops – bright greens and reds insist that life doesn’t have to be bleak.  There’s optimism on screen, whether on the walls or in the mind of Etero, who is a quiet, radical force that flies in the face of convention.  It doesn’t matter what age you are, Naveriani suggests.  Pleasure and desire can strike us at any time."
James Mottram, Aesthetica magazine

"In Eto, Elene Naveriani has created one of the most memorable protagonists of the year, Chavleishvili’s performance among the best of the lot."
Rory O'Connor, The Film Stage

★★★★
"A meditative feminist subversion of a coming-of-age tale, spearheaded by a magnificent turn from Chavleishvili."
Andrew Murray, The Upcoming



Bookings & Press

For film bookings please contact Colin Burch at Verve Pictures — [email protected]. Press resources are on the Press page.