Dry Leaf 

Dry Leaf 

Alexandre Koberidze, Germany, Georgia, 2025, 186’ 

Photographer Lisa suddenly disappears while photographing rural football stadiums. Lisa’s father and her enigmatic friend set out to track her down. 

Sports photographer Lisa vanishes without warning, leaving behind a letter asking not to be found. She was last seen photographing rural football fields in remote Georgian villages. Her father, Irakli, unable to accept her disappearance, sets out on a journey to find her. He teams up with Levani, Lisa’s enigmatic best friend, and together they travel across the countryside, retracing her steps through quiet villages, meeting kind strangers, and speaking with children playing football along the way. 

Trading the lush 16mm and crisp HD of his previous feature What Do We See When We Look at the Sky? for a return to the Sony Ericsson mobile phone first used in his debut, Koberidze’s lower-than-lo-fi images are frequently crushed and pixelated to the point of distortion. Featuring a score composed by Giorgi Koberidze, brother of the director, Dry Leaf grows evermore abstract as it explores the meaning of fate and surrender, establishing Koberidze as one of contemporary international cinema’s most surprising and sensitive visionaries. 

»In football, a ‘dry leaf’ is a kick with an unpredictable landing of the ball – much like our characters who surrender to the journey and trust the wind to lead them.« – Alexandre Koberidze 

Alexandre Koberidze, born in Tbilisi, studied directing at the German Film & TV Academy Berlin. He made several short films, and the feature-length film Let Summer Never Come Again, which won awards at festivals worldwide, including the Grand Prix at the FID Marseille. His graduation film What Do We See When We Look at the Sky? premiered at the Berlinale in 2021, where it was awarded the FIPRESCI prize.