Alexandre koberidze’s new film shot on a 2008 phone opens at film at lincoln center
Georgian director Alexandre Koberidze has photographed his latest feature, Dry Leaf, using a 2008 Sony Ericsson W595. The deliberate use of a low-fidelity device informs the film’s central visual idea. It reframes ordinary rural scenes into a tactile, dreamlike register.
The film begins its theatrical run at New York’s Film at Lincoln Center on March 20. Alexandre Koberidze and Giorgi Koberidze are scheduled to appear in person.
Cinema Guild released the first trailer on Letterboxd on February 25, 2026, giving audiences an early look at the production. The trailer emphasizes the phone’s grainy texture and the director’s aesthetic choices.
The choice to shoot on a decade-old mobile phone contrasts with the industry’s push for ever-higher resolution. It creates a distinct visual texture that functions as the film’s aesthetic strategy, rather than a mere gimmick. From an ESG perspective, low-resource production methods can also reduce equipment-related emissions and logistical complexity.
The use of the Sony Ericsson phone foregrounds materiality and limits. Those constraints shape composition, movement and color in ways conventional digital cinema does not. The result is a film that privileges sensory detail and atmosphere over polish.
The premise and creative impulse
Dry Leaf follows Irakli, played by David Koberidze, as he crosses the Georgian countryside in search of his daughter Lisa. The narrative treats her absence as a means to investigate landscape, memory and community rather than as a conventional mystery.
Irakli’s encounters — adolescents, packs of dogs and the villagers’ oral histories — create a mosaic of everyday life. The camera lingers on tactile details and small rituals, rendering the familiar as subtly estranged. Building on the film’s modest technical means, these vignettes privilege sensory atmosphere and accumulated time over formal polish.
Technical choices and film language
Building on the film’s modest technical means, the director favours observation over exposition. The film unfolds as a sequence of vignettes that privilege sensory atmosphere and accumulated time rather than conventional narrative propulsion.
Visually, the work leans toward restrained camera work and patient framing. Shots often linger on small gestures, textures and domestic interiors, inviting viewers to register detail over dramatic revelation. This approach reframes the missing-person premise as an occasion for close study rather than a linear mystery.
Sound design functions as a parallel narrative device. Ambient noises, offscreen sounds and the cadence of everyday speech are foregrounded. These sonic elements make transitions between scenes feel like shifts in attention instead of plot beats.
Structurally, the film oscillates between what may read as a subversive detective story and an impressionistic reverie. That oscillation asks audiences to recalibrate expectations: reward comes from sustained attention to nuance, not from a climactic disclosure.
The next section examines how production choices—lighting, editing rhythms and performance style—reinforce this observational mode and shape the viewer’s experience.
The director’s decision to shoot with the Sony Ericsson W595 functions as a formal choice that extends the film’s observational logic. Production decisions—lighting, editing rhythms and performance style—continue to shape how the audience reads each vignette.
The phone’s limited sensor and characteristic noise do more than evoke nostalgia. They add a tactile grain that transforms everyday fields and communal scenes into images that resemble textured paintings. That grain becomes a working cinematic grammar, guiding attention toward color variation, movement and implied space.
In an era dominated by high-definition clarity, the film’s soft-edged palette argues for the aesthetic potential of constraint. The choice foregrounds how technical limitations can create expressive affordances rather than deficiencies.
From an ESG perspective, this aesthetic restraint also has pragmatic implications. Shooting with compact equipment reduced resource demands on set and simplified logistics, illustrating how modest production methods can align artistic intent with efficient practices.
Leading companies have understood that purposeful constraint can drive creative problem-solving. Here, the director leverages limitation as an engine of perception, reinforcing the film’s commitment to focused observation and sensory economy.
Here, the director leverages limitation as an engine of perception, reinforcing the film’s commitment to focused observation and sensory economy. Complementing that visual restraint is a soundtrack by Giorgi Koberidze. Critics have described the score as both addictive and charming. Music and ambient sound combine to shape the film’s atmosphere. Pauses and pedestrian moments are treated as charged cinematic intervals.
The film’s reported runtime of 186 minutes underlines its deliberate pacing. The editing refuses conventional accelerations. Viewers are asked to accept patience and immersion as part of the viewing contract.
How the medium alters perception
The film asks audiences to accept patience and immersion as part of the viewing contract. How the medium alters perception continues to shape critical response.
Reception, context, and where to see it
Critics have noted that the director transforms technical limitations into formal strategy. Textures, abrupt focus shifts and occasional image aberrations function as deliberate cinematic devices rather than defects. These elements foreground mood and surface detail over conventional narrative propulsion.
Reviewers describe the work as rewarding viewers who surrender to its internal rhythm. The film privileges sensory registration and temporal pacing, inviting a sustained, observational mode of attention.
From a production standpoint, shooting with lower-fidelity tools alters both aesthetics and logistics. Lighter crews and minimal equipment can reduce the carbon intensity of a shoot. From an ESG perspective, such practices present a practical case for lower-impact production methods while lowering budgets and increasing flexibility.
The film has played on the international festival circuit and at specialist arthouse venues. Distribution remains selective; audiences should consult festival listings, repertory cinemas and the filmmaker’s official channels for screening information and release updates.
Leading companies have understood that technical constraints can unlock new creative economies. In this instance, restraint operates as a formal choice that reframes expectation and attention.
In this instance, restraint operates as a formal choice that reframes expectation and attention.
Critics who previewed Dry Leaf praised its slow-burning rhythm and its balance of meditative tempo with a lucid visual imagination. Reviewers note that the film’s composure allows images and silences to accumulate meaning rather than delivering immediate payoff.
The work extends Giorgi Koberidze’s pattern of formal experiment. It follows his previous films in privileging atmosphere over conventional plot mechanics. For viewers seeking international cinema that resists mainstream strategies, Dry Leaf is presented as the next step in his creative evolution.
For viewers seeking international cinema that resists mainstream strategies, Dry Leaf is presented as the next step in his creative evolution. The theatrical engagement in New York opens March 20 at Film at Lincoln Center, and the first trailer was shared by Cinema Guild via Letterboxd on February 25, 2026. The trailer sketches the film’s aesthetic with grainy, pastoral frames and a through-composed score. It functions as a practical primer for attendees preparing to see the full work.
Why this film matters
Who: Alexandre Koberidze and Giorgi Koberidze will appear at select screenings. Audiences will have the opportunity to hear the director and the composer discuss creative choices and compositional strategy.
What: The film advances a mode of filmmaking that privileges temporal patience and tonal density over conventional narrative propulsion. Critics who previewed the film noted its meditative tempo and textural focus.
When and where: The New York engagement begins March 20 at Film at Lincoln Center. The trailer’s release on February 25, 2026, established early expectations ahead of the run.
Why: The film matters because it reframes audience attention. Rather than competing with mainstream pace, it asks viewers to engage with sustained image and sound. From an ESG perspective, cultural programming that foregrounds diverse artistic voices builds long-term value for institutions and audiences alike. Sustainability is a business case when cultural organisations invest in programming that expands artistic ecosystems and audience literacy.
How to approach it: Viewers should consider the trailer as an orientation rather than a synopsis. Pay attention to recurring motifs in image and music. Note the filmmakers’ comments during post-screening discussions for insight into formal decisions and working methods.
Note the filmmakers’ comments during post-screening discussions for insight into formal decisions and working methods. Dry Leaf functions as a reminder that choices such as camera format, sound design and running time shape spectators’ understanding. Koberidze’s decision to limit technical resources opens space for attentive viewing and reframes expectations about contemporary cinema.
For viewers who prefer films that privilege texture and tempo over high-definition spectacle, Dry Leaf offers a persuasive argument. The trailer is available via Letterboxd and Cinema Guild, and the Film at Lincoln Center engagement begins on March 20. Audiences should expect an extended, immersive experience rooted in the rural landscapes and human rhythms of Georgia.