Jackals and Drones
(Chronicles of A Summer)
HD video,16min
2018
The narrative follows a road movie schema, but only superficially: a Belgian actress arrives at Tbilisi Airport to travel to the medieval cave city of Vardzia. Her journey with two non-professional actors drives the narrative forward, while Medoidze’s camera records their encounters with jackals, drones, Orthodox monks, and others. Vardzia’s beautiful, desert-like landscape appears only through a car window, reflecting the fragmented lives of the film’s protagonists. Parallel to the journey, a mythopoetic figure resembling Medea roams the caves, scorning our obsession with progress and technology. The film begins and ends with rain, arriving as if in answer to her prayers—a confirmation of nature’s sacred status.