The Trader: Netflix releases trailer for Sundance short
David Farnor | On 28, Jan 2018
Netflix is heading from Sundance to the Republic of Georgia for its latest short documentary, as the streaming giant continues to invest in short-form non-fiction.
Directed by Tamta Gabrichidze, The Trader (Sovdagari) follows Gela as he sells secondhand goods through rural Georgia, where money is meaningless, and potatoes are lucre. A portrait of a man and his minibus, it examines life in a rural corner of the Republic of Georgia, where and ambition is crushed by poverty. Clothes, household items and more are Gela’s trade, and young and old peer into his truck, their eyes lighting up at the sight of modern conveniences like sponges and lint brushes.
It’s a riddle that pits rural value against urban valuation, dirt versus gold, and that riddle was first unravelled at the Sundance Film Festival this week. The Utah festival included the film in its 2018 shorts program, after it won the Best Short Documentary Award at the Hot Docs Festival in 2017. Now, it’s heading to Netflix, where it will premiere worldwide on Friday 9th February. Here’s a trailer:
Photo: Sundance