AF screens ‘Tell My Friends That I’m Dead’

Dites à mes amis que je suis mort (Tell My Friends That I'm Dead) French documentary on funeral arrangements in Gerogia directed by Nino Kirtadzé will be screened at 3.00 pm on Tuesday, November 27 and at 6.30 pm on Wednesday, November 28 at Alliance Francaise in Colombo.

A car crashes into the living room of a house and is covered with a black veil : the dead - and their possessions - are part of everyday life. So you keep drinking, laughing,eating, crying.

The deceased's family is never alone : the near and dear are there, the radio, the TV ... And with the start of the wake, everything merges into a blur, the afterlife is laid bare and the here and now transmutes: the joy of life and the mystery of death, inseparable, as if life were celebrating its victory over death. All through the eyes of one woman, Nino ...

The documentary set in western Georgia. Here, according to custom, the dead are not separated from the living. People involve them in their family life, talk to them and seek their advice. They protect the dead and they hope the dead will protect them. The family is never alone. The neighbours are there to keep up their spirits, to help them with the ceremony: "Everything has to be properly done". Tsotne, dressed in his best suit gets ready to "welcome the guests". The condolences ceremony starts at eight o'clock in the evening. The film was the Gold Award winner at FIPA in 2004.