Commendation of the Ecumenical Jury, Karlovy Vary 2023

A village in a barren Georgian mining region worships a heavily weathered saint. Suddenly it seems to have come alive. Miracles happen, the lame walk, lost miners appear to their relatives and every Bible-savvy viewer believes they have seen or heard all of this before. But this film is not simply a retelling of the New Testament. Rather, it raises an essential and quite self-critical question of Christian religion: Why do we worship the dead, immobile, interchangeable instead of the living? Do we want to live or survive? For this and for its exceptional visual, aesthetic and musical design, the Ecumenical Jury awards a Commendation to “Citizen Saint” by Tinatin Kajrishvili.