Line of Credit

North American Premiere | Q&A with director Salomé Alexi

Things are tough all over. Mortgage crises and other economic woes have hit the entire world, including the Republic of Georgia. Nino, a fortysomething woman with a small shop in Tbilisi, grew up (along with her countrymen and -women) without thinking about the complexities of finance. But the advent of capitalism in the former Soviet republic changed all of that. When the money becomes tight, Nino goes about taking loan after loan, but even as the situation gets out of hand, Salomé Alexi maintains a beautifully light, comedic tone in her feature-film debut. (Her short Felicità showed in ND/NF 2010.) Her camera observes the deadpan humor that exists alongside the desperate straits in which the people find themselves. Entertaining a French tourist in her shop while finagling yet another loan with her employee (who’s been skimming money from her), Nino represents us all: someone trying to keep her head above water while working to make things right.