Watch Beginning (2020) online

Beginning (Georgian: დასაწყისი, dasats’q’isi, Dasatskisi), originally given the working title Naked Sky, is a Georgian-French drama film, directed by Déa Kulumbegashvili and released in 2020.

The film was named as an official selection of the Cannes Film Festival in May 2020, but was not screened there due to the COVID-19 pandemic, yet it played in the Cannes 4-day event event along with three other films. The film had its actual premiere at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in September 2020, where it won the FIPRESCI Prize. It was subsequently screened and won awards at the San Sebastián International Film Festival and holds the record for the most award in the main competition of the prestigious Spanish festival taking home Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay & and Best Actress. The film went on to win awards at the Adelaide Film Festival, and many other international festivals.

Yana, the wife of Jehovah's Witness religious leader David, becomes disillusioned with her life inside a patriarchal religious community after its Kingdom Hall is firebombed by violent extremists. This event is only the starting point of the film, which focuses on Yana's interior life and emotional deterioration after David apparently does not understand what she is trying to express, and repeatedly says that something is wrong with her before going away to present himself to the elders of the church. A detective calls on Yana, ostensibly to ask questions about the fire at the church, but his questions become intrusive and personal, including about her sexual life with her husband. He asks if she feels scared and she answers "yes".

There is little dialogue overall, and the camera follows the actions of Yana and her son over the following days with slow and lingering shots, as the storyline takes an even darker turn.