Georgian cinematographer Giorgi Shvelidze receives award for Namme film

Shvelidze received the Spotlight Award in Los Angeles yesterday at the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC).

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Namme is the story of a young Georgian girl who lives in a mountain village in Georgia with her old sick father and three brothers.

The father has an extraordinary gift and can heal people. However, none of his sons wanted to learn from him. They chose very different paths in life – one becomes a mollah, one a priest and the third a philosophy teacher.

Only Namme decides to follow her father and discovers in herself the same gift to heal people. But the gift carries with it not only opportunities, but also tragedies.

“Namme is a hymn to the majestic beauty of the mountains and the pagan folk traditions of the people living there,” the Hollywood Reporter wrote about the film.

The two other winners in the Spotlight Award section were Lukas Dhont for camera work in the movie GIRL, and Chloé Zhao for her work in the movie The Rider.

Namme was shot in 2017 and was directed by Zaza Khalvashi.

The film has won several awards at international film festivals. In 2017, it was presented at the Oscars and entered the semi-final list of 87 films, but in the end did not win an award.