contact: +7(940)9667702 / alexandrablotia@gmail.com
romantic/drama
fantasy, drama
horror, drama
drama, experimental
thriller, detective
Anri Lakashia - If You Only Knew (Official Music Video) directed by Sandro Ablotia
This collection of photographs presents unique moments from behind the scenes of film production. You will see backstage footage from the set, the creative atmosphere of the team at work, as well as sketches and drafts reflecting the process of developing the visual style and imagery. From the initial ideas and sketches to the preparation of sets, costume fittings, and filming, each frame reveals how much work, creativity, and inspiration goes into creating a film project. This collection offers a glimpse behind the scenes of cinema and shows how magic is created on screen.
To create this film, I had to immerse myself in a deep study of Abkhazian mythology. I was particularly interested in legends related to the water element and its deities. I studied many sources - from academic works to oral legends passed down from generation to generation. Interestingly, almost every source presented the water deity differently: somewhere it was a patron and healer, somewhere it was a vengeful spirit, and in other cases it was a guardian of the boundaries between worlds. These disparate descriptions inspired me to create my own Dzyzlan.
The film was an attempt to combine ancient mythology with modernity. I contrasted Dzyzlan with the world of modern bureaucracy, a system that seeks to organize everything and subject it to rules. Thus, chaos and order, intuition and regulation, the spirit of time and the spirit of nature collide in the story. This is not just a story about an ancient creature - it is a reflection on the place of myth in today's rational world.SCENES FROM THE FILM
"Distortion" is my all-time favorite film ever made. It's a visually striking and evocative movie, but underneath its rich shell lies a dark, tragic story. The ending of the movie is hard, it leaves no hope - and that is its honesty. The Abkhazian mentality, with all its internal contradictions, deep-rooted sacrifice and pride, is at the heart of it. I tried to convey through the inner conflicts of the protagonist, through his struggle with himself, with his nature and the environment in which he exists.
I paid special attention to the visual expression of emotions. In this film, the feelings of the main character literally materialize. They become part of his inner world, image, movement. I first made sketches, thought of shapes, textures, images - what "pride" or "aggression" might look like, for example. And then, together with my friend, with whom I work closely in the creative process, we would bring these sketches to life. Through these images I wanted to show that emotions are not just experiences, but living, almost animate forces that shape us and destroy us at the same time.
Inspired by Robert Eggers' "The Witch", I realized that I too wanted to make a film about a witch, but to put this figure in an Abkhazian context.
This movie stands out first of all for its visual component. My friend Christina Haag and I did a lot of work on creating the decorations. Almost everything was made by hand — from weapons and staffs to costumes and small interior details. We drew inspiration from medieval European and Abkhaz iconography: engravings, ancient symbols, elements of pagan cults. All this helped to create an atmosphere out of time — a world where ancient and fictional, recognizable and distorted are mixed.
This is not classic horror in the usual sense. I used theatrical techniques — refrains, symbolic repetitions, the plastic play of the actors. They help to reveal more deeply the image of the main antagonist, who at some point ceases to be perceived as evil.
For me, this movie is an attempt to talk about the fear of the unknown, about the boundary between the real and the mythical, and about how easily society turns people into monsters.
The film crew consisted of about 25 people, and more than 50 participants were involved in the creation of the film. Personally, I not only directed and wrote the script, but also served as producer, edited the film, wrote the music, and worked with the artist on creating the sets.
