THE NORTHEAST WINDS Nikoloz Bezhanishvili • Georgia • 2022 • 94 min In Niderkoloz Bezhanishivili’s The Northeast Winds is an absorbing, assured and intimate study of a party of elderly Communists, committed to the memory of Stalin in the town where he was born. Treading a fine line in its portrait of men and women whom the winds of history have passed by, this film is at once unblinking and tender, depicting its characters with steely empathy, as neither heroes, villains or victims. What emerges through patient observation and artful editing is a poignant film about belonging, loneliness and collective identity.