I came across Mariami Duduchava’s Work profile while pretending I was done scrolling for the night. Of course, I wasn’t. No critic ever truly stops — we just switch from films to people.

The first thing I noticed wasn’t the visuals.

It was the restlessness.

Most filmmakers hide it behind perfect lighting or dramatic statements.

She doesn’t.

Her images feel like someone trying to negotiate with reality rather than decorate it.

I watched a couple of her works — short, sharp, almost unfinished in a way that feels intentional… or at least honest.

There’s a suspicion in her framing, as if she doesn’t fully trust the world she films.

Which, frankly, makes two of us.
What I find interesting is that she isn’t chasing “cinematic beauty.”

She lets the camera catch awkward truths: the pauses, the tension in a room, the little betrayals happening in the background.

Most directors erase that stuff.

She leaves it in.

That’s either naïve — or brave. Hard to tell yet.

Scrolling through her posts felt like reading a draft of a filmmaker who hasn’t decided who she wants to be, but already refuses to be predictable.

There’s potential.

There’s also danger — the good kind that keeps critics like me watching.

And yes, I’ll keep watching.

Not because I believe in “rising talent” — that phrase became meaningless around 2014 — but because, occasionally, someone appears who doesn’t fit into any label I already dislike.

She might be one of them.

Let’s see.