Drawing Lots

Georgian director Zaza Khalvashi was working on his fifth film when he died completely unexpectedly in 2020 at the age of 62. As a tribute, his family decided to complete the film, which daughter Tamta eventually did. The result, Drawing Lots, has become a dryly comic ensemble piece that recalls the work of Otar Iosseliani, arguably the most famous Georgian director. Shot in black-and-white, the film's leads are played by members of the Batumi Theatre and non-professional actors.

People are always looking for something: if not friendship and love, then money and success. In the process, the other gets in the way, while at the same time that other is just what is needed. Like the residents of an apartment building in the coastal city of Batumi: the talented but troubled rock guitarist, the cuckolded lover, the violinist with a midlife crisis, the infatuated and therefore insecure teenagers, the petty thieves, the broken families... Their lives intersect in the courtyard of the apartment and everyone joins the lottery.