MEOREKHARISKHOVANI ROLI
Georgia, Estonia, Turkey, Switzerland, United States
2026 | 140 min. | Fiction

After a long hiatus, the actor, a star of Georgian cinema, attends the casting call of a young female director, where for the first time in his life he is asked to play a supporting role of a bizarre and unsympathetic character. He leaves the casting unconvinced, bordering on insulted, accustomed to playing leading parts and charming heroic protagonists. Later, he recalls the casting experience and mocks the ambitions of the young director, referring to the project as a pretentious and pathetic attempt to squeeze all the philosophy she had gathered throughout her little life into her first film. However, as the story unfolds, we observe him gradually succumbing to the offered part and becoming enchanted by the strange and the unknown, triggering something in him and starting an irreversible process of self-transformation. The actor, without realizing it himself, starts getting into character and seemingly unconsciously, accepts the role he has been offered to play.

Directed by: Ana Urushadze
Written by: Ana Urushadze
Produced by: Davit Tsintsadze, Ivo Felt, Bacho Meburishvili, Sophio Bendiashvili, Zeynep Özbatur Atakan, Andrei Epifanov, Eleonora Granata-Jenkinson, Dato Bakhtadze
Cinematography: Rein Kotov
Editing: Levan Uchaneishvili
Production Design: Simon Machabeli
Costume Design: Simon Machabeli
Make-Up & Hair: Madonna Chanturia
Original Score: Sten Sheripov
Sound: Harmo Kallaste
Visual Effects: Levan Lapachi
Casting: Elizbar Chkheidze
Cast: Dato Bakhtadze (Niaz Ninua), Nata Murvanidze (Liza), Lasha Mebuke (Tato Ninua), Elene Maisuradze (Aza), Irakli Kvirikadze (Andro Arabuli), Zurab Sturua (Eros), Eka Demetradze (Maka), Sandro Samkharadze (Koba Kiknadze), Nino Kasradze (Dudana), Murman Jinoria (Karlo Burdzgla)

Statement of the director:
The idea for SUPPORTING ROLE originated during auditions for my first feature film. I was casting an elderly man for the role of the protagonist’s father when one of the actors became visibly offended after learning that I, a young and inexperienced woman, was both the director and the screenwriter. He refused to accept the role, questioning my ambition before abruptly leaving the casting room. I found this reaction deeply intriguing and began to imagine what his life might have been like, and why his ego had been so strongly affected. Seen from a distance, the dynamic itself became fascinating to me: a young debutant director and a well-known elderly actor.

As I began concentrating on the character of the actor, the themes of the film revealed themselves almost automatically - questions of identity crisis, being trapped within a single role, came to the surface. I do believe that all of us are, in a sense, actors, performing given or self-created roles throughout our lives. Problems arise when we become stuck in one role and continue repeating the same patterns and habits, even when that role is that of a hero. Over time, even the most admired mask becomes depleted and lifeless. The film explores the moment when this false persona begins to crumble, leaving the individual exposed, uncertain, yet open to transformation.
I approach the film as something resembling a myth or a fairy tale, stripped of typical genre elements, yet infused with a subtle sense of the mystical.

Production:
Zazafilms, Allfilm
https://allfilm.ee/

World Sales:
Split Screen
https://splitscreen.hr/