Dry Leaf

Alexandre Koberidze / Germany & Georgia / 2025 / 186 min

Lisa is a photographer who has disappeared, leaving behind a letter asking not to be found. Her editor at the newspaper had sent her to take pictures of football fields in remote rural areas of Georgia. With the editor’s list of locations in hand, Lisa’s father drives from pitch to pitch to track her down in the company of Lisa’s best (and invisible!) friend, Levani.

Along the way, they meet friendly strangers, children playing football, wild horses, donkeys, dogs, cats and other animals. Georgian filmmaker Alexandre Koberidze (‘What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?’) immortalises the adventure in wonderfully impasto lo-fi images, shot exclusively on an old Sony Ericsson mobile phone (!) and conjuring up a visual universe that rivals the giants of film history in terms of originality – but beats them all with its warmth and quirky humour.

‘Dry Leaf’ takes its title from footballer Didi’s kicking technique. The Brazilian could make the ball fly through the air in a way that was impossible to predict – like a leaf in the wind. Koberidze’s road movie follows an equally unpredictable course, and when the investigation leads nowhere, Irakli and Levani must surrender to invisible forces.