# April (2024 film)
*April* (Georgian: Aprili) is a 2024 drama film written and directed by the Georgian filmmaker Dea Kulumbegashvili, her second feature after *Beginning* (2020). Set in rural eastern Georgia, it follows Nina, an obstetrician-gynecologist who falls under investigation when a newborn dies during delivery, while rumors circulate that she performs illegal abortions for local women. The film premiered in competition at the 2024 [Venice Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/venice-film-festival), where it won the Special Jury Prize.[1](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/april/) • [2](https://www.14films.de/en/das-festival/archiv/2024/april)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director and writer | Dea Kulumbegashvili, her second feature after *Beginning* (2020)[1](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/april/) |
| Year, countries, runtime | 2024; Georgia, France, Italy; 134 minutes[1](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/april/) |
| Language | Georgian[1](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/april/) |
| Principal cast | Ia Sukhitashvili (Nina), Kakha Kintsurashvili (David), Merab Ninidze (the head doctor)[3](https://www.lpafilmfestival.com/en/aprili/) |
| Key crew | Cinematography Arseni Khachaturan; music Matthew Herbert; editing Jacopo Ramella Pajrin; sound Lars Ginzel[3](https://www.lpafilmfestival.com/en/aprili/) |
| Premiere and prize | Venice Film Festival 2024, Competition; Special Jury Prize[2](https://www.14films.de/en/das-festival/archiv/2024/april) |
| Critical scores | Metacritic metascore 86 from 18 reviews; Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer 95% from 60 reviews[4](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt31350080/criticreviews/) • [5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/april_2024) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Nina (Ia Sukhitashvili) is an obstetrician-gynecologist at a small hospital in a provincial Georgian town. In the opening scenes she delivers a baby who does not cry once born; the stillbirth, filmed from overhead in a long take, brings accusations of negligence from the child's father and an inquiry from the hospital.[6](https://apnews.com/article/c33455c1989893afe678f8cc6d5edfec) • [7](https://www.bfi.org.uk/news/dea-kulumbegashvili-april-bfi-release) The father tells Nina he knows she gives abortions in the village, calls her a murderer, and spits on her.[6](https://apnews.com/article/c33455c1989893afe678f8cc6d5edfec)
Nina's standing is further jeopardized by what people already know: for years she has been driving to surrounding villages to perform abortions in secret, procedures the law does not allow and families would not tolerate.[2](https://www.14films.de/en/das-festival/archiv/2024/april) Despite the investigation, she continues her professional duties and her clandestine work, assisting women in their homes, including a kitchen-table abortion performed on a deaf-mute teenager raped by a family member.[3](https://www.lpafilmfestival.com/en/aprili/) • [8](https://eefb.org/perspectives/dea-kulumbegashvilis-april-aprili-2024/) She receives some protection from David (Kakha Kintsurashvili), a colleague and former lover, and the benefit of the doubt from the head doctor (Merab Ninidze), but outside pressures mount as her reputation threatens the clinic.[9](https://2024.tiffr.com/shows/april)
The film also follows a recurring, unexplained figure: a naked, faceless body with hanging skin and a stooped posture that moves through the landscape and resists any single reading.[8](https://eefb.org/perspectives/dea-kulumbegashvilis-april-aprili-2024/) • [2](https://www.14films.de/en/das-festival/archiv/2024/april) The British Board of Film Classification, which rated the film for its UK release, describes sustained unsettling scenes featuring this withered, faceless naked figure, alongside graphic unsimulated childbirth scenes.[10](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/april-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0xmdi5mde1)
## Context in Georgia
The film dramatizes how stigma and legal ambiguity can silence women. In Georgia, someone may obtain an abortion on request during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, and until 22 weeks it remains allowed for medical or social reasons, though rural residents face restricted access.[8](https://eefb.org/perspectives/dea-kulumbegashvilis-april-aprili-2024/) In a Sight & Sound interview, Kulumbegashvili said that daily shifts in Georgian abortion law, including tightening legislation on IVF and abortion pills, prompted her to record these moments before they vanish, quoting a local report that in the entire town there was not even one abortion pill available.[8](https://eefb.org/perspectives/dea-kulumbegashvilis-april-aprili-2024/)
## Production
Kulumbegashvili wrote and directed the film. It was produced by the Paris-based company First Picture, Italy's Frenesy Film Company and MeMo Films, and Georgia's Independent Film Project, with co-production by ARTE France Cinéma; [Goodfellas](https://www.edgepedia.org/goodfellas) handles world sales.[3](https://www.lpafilmfestival.com/en/aprili/) • [11](https://cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/466749/) The producers include [Luca Guadagnino](https://www.edgepedia.org/luca-guadagnino), who had signed on as producer after Kulumbegashvili's debut, alongside Ilan Amouyal, David Zerat, Francesco Melzi d'Eril, Archil Gelovani, Gabriele Moratti, and Alexandra Rossi.[7](https://www.bfi.org.uk/news/dea-kulumbegashvili-april-bfi-release) • [12](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/interviews/i-dont-exist-director-georgia-dea-kulumbegashvili-her-haunting-abortion-drama-april)
Kulumbegashvili reunited with collaborators from *Beginning*: actress Ia Sukhitashvili and cinematographer Arseni Khachaturan, known for *Bones and All*, with an original score by the British experimental composer Matthew Herbert.[7](https://www.bfi.org.uk/news/dea-kulumbegashvili-april-bfi-release) The film includes scenes of real childbirth and medical procedures; in an interview with Hammer to Nail, Kulumbegashvili said that on the ethical question of including them, "it was not even a question for me," crediting the women who shared their personal and painful experiences and the doctors who made the film possible.[13](https://www.hammertonail.com/interviews/dea-kulumbegashvili/)
## Style
Kulumbegashvili tells the story in long, static, unbroken takes beneath the wide sky of the Georgian landscape, balancing long-take realism and nightmarish expressionism.[2](https://www.14films.de/en/das-festival/archiv/2024/april) • [1](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/april/) The Karlovy Vary program notes describe a film that leaves the viewer uncertain whether they are watching reality, a dream, or a nightmare.[14](https://www.kviff.com/en/programme/film/75/44921-april) Critics noted the film's opacity and refusal to explain itself: Guy Lodge of Variety called it "a work marked, like the benevolent but unreachable woman at its center, by immense empathy and isolated, inconsolable despair," and Wendy Ide of Screen Daily described "a formidable, defiantly esoteric work" that demands considerable investment from the audience.[4](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt31350080/criticreviews/)
## Release and reception
*April* had its world premiere on 5 September 2024 in the [Competition](https://www.edgepedia.org/competition) program of the 81st Venice Film Festival, where it won the Special Jury Prize.[15](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt31350080/releaseinfo/) • [2](https://www.14films.de/en/das-festival/archiv/2024/april) It screened at Toronto, New York, San Sebastián, and Sundance, and its UK premiere followed at the [BFI London Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/bfi-london-film-festival) in Official Competition.[7](https://www.bfi.org.uk/news/dea-kulumbegashvili-april-bfi-release) At San Sebastián it won Best Film in the Zabaltegi-Tabakalera selection.[16](https://dafilmfestival.com/en/movie/april/)
BFI Distribution released the film in UK and Irish cinemas on 25 April 2025; France received it on 29 January 2025.[7](https://www.bfi.org.uk/news/dea-kulumbegashvili-april-bfi-release) • [17](https://en.unifrance.org/movie/59607/april) On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 95% Tomatometer from 60 reviews, with the critics consensus calling it "a searing depiction of professional integrity and the visceral realities of childbirth"; its Metacritic metascore is 86 based on 18 reviews.[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/april_2024) • [4](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt31350080/criticreviews/)
**Awards.** Beyond the Venice Special Jury Prize, the film won Best Film at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards 2024 (for the producers, with Kulumbegashvili also nominated for Best Director), the Zabaltegi-Tabakalera Prize at [San Sebastián](https://www.edgepedia.org/san-sebastian) 2024, Best Director for Kulumbegashvili at the Hamburg Film Festival 2024, the Glocal Images Best Film Award at Cyprus Film Days 2025, and a Silver Screen Award for Best Screenplay at the Singapore Film Festival; it was also nominated for the [Golden Lion](https://www.edgepedia.org/golden-lion) at Venice and the European University Film Award.[18](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt31350080/awards/) • [16](https://dafilmfestival.com/en/movie/april/)
## The director
Dea Kulumbegashvili (born 1986) is a Georgian writer and director based in Tbilisi. Her debut short *Invisible Spaces* (2014) was nominated for the [Palme d'Or du Court Métrage](https://www.edgepedia.org/palme-dor-du-court-metrage) at Cannes, the first film from independent Georgia in the festival's Official Selection; her second short, *Léthé*, premiered at Cannes Directors' Fortnight in 2016. Her first feature, *Beginning* (2020), won Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Actress at the San Sebastián Film Festival, and was selected as Georgia's entry for the 2021 Oscars.[7](https://www.bfi.org.uk/news/dea-kulumbegashvili-april-bfi-release) • [16](https://dafilmfestival.com/en/movie/april/) • [12](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/interviews/i-dont-exist-director-georgia-dea-kulumbegashvili-her-haunting-abortion-drama-april) She has said that she "doesn't exist as a director in Georgia," where the film could not have been made openly, though it was supported by European broadcasters such as ARTE and shown at major festivals.[8](https://eefb.org/perspectives/dea-kulumbegashvilis-april-aprili-2024/)
## References
1. [April, Film at Lincoln Center](https://www.filmlinc.org/films/april/)
2. [April by Dea Kulumbegashvili, Around the World in 14 Films](https://www.14films.de/en/das-festival/archiv/2024/april)
3. [Aprili, Festival Internacional de Cine](https://www.lpafilmfestival.com/en/aprili/)
4. [April (2024) Metacritic reviews, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt31350080/criticreviews/)
5. [April (2024), Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/april_2024)
6. [Movie Review: 'April' is shattering and essential, AP News](https://apnews.com/article/c33455c1989893afe678f8cc6d5edfec)
7. [Dea Kulumbegashvili's Venice prize-winning second feature April to be released by the BFI, BFI](https://www.bfi.org.uk/news/dea-kulumbegashvili-april-bfi-release)
8. [For the Record: Dea Kulumbegashvili's April (Aprili, 2024), East European Film Bulletin](https://eefb.org/perspectives/dea-kulumbegashvilis-april-aprili-2024/)
9. [April, TIFF 2024, TIFFR](https://2024.tiffr.com/shows/april)
10. [April, British Board of Film Classification](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/april-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0xmdi5mde1)
11. [Review: April, Cineuropa](https://cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/466749/)
12. ["I don't exist as a director in Georgia": Dea Kulumbegashvili on her haunting abortion drama April, Sight and Sound](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/interviews/i-dont-exist-director-georgia-dea-kulumbegashvili-her-haunting-abortion-drama-april)
13. [A Conversation with Dea Kulumbegashvili (APRIL), Hammer to Nail](https://www.hammertonail.com/interviews/dea-kulumbegashvili/)
14. [April, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival](https://www.kviff.com/en/programme/film/75/44921-april)
15. [April (2024) Release info, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt31350080/releaseinfo/)
16. [April, D'A Film Festival](https://dafilmfestival.com/en/movie/april/)
17. [April de Dea Kulumbegashvili (2024), Unifrance](https://en.unifrance.org/movie/59607/april)
18. [April (2024) Awards, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt31350080/awards/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 2023 and 2024 › Titles A to G*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license