Film
An ode to the rivalry between men and nature, Taming the Garden is the story of how a powerful man indulges in an unusual hobby by having century-old trees uprooted in communities along the Georgian coast and transplanted to his private garden.
A powerful and anonymous man has developed an unusual hobby: he buys centuries-old trees from communities along the Georgian coast and has them dug up to collect for his private garden. Villages thus lose their living heritage, landscapes are scarred, and residents face the price of power and money.
Director Salomé Jashi follows this process with a sense of wonder. She shows how residents balance anger, resignation, and hope for compensation, while the enormous trees – some as tall as fifteen-story buildings – slowly vanish from their surroundings. At the same time, the film offers a penetrating look into the needs and values of contemporary Georgian society and reflects on the theme of forced migration, where “uprooting” is more than a metaphor.
TAMING THE GARDEN is a hypnotic documentary that reaches far beyond Georgia. The film does not merely tell the story of a powerful man indulging an unusual hobby; Jashi also raises compelling questions about the relationship between humans and nature, and the boundless influence of the super-rich on our world.
In times of ecological and societal transition, public space is never neutral.
The exhibition Tamed Nature, on view at the Flanders Architecture Institute from 17 September onwards, investigates how green urban spaces embody power, history and social tensions. It explores the layered history of urban green space through the lens of the city of Antwerp.
21.10.2025
19:45u
92 min.
DE/GE/NL/CH, with English subtitles
2022, Salomé Jashi
De Studio/De Cinema
Maarschalk Gérardstraat 4
2000 Antwerp
€9, standard
€6,5 reduction
Flanders Architecture Institute X De Cinema
The Government of Flanders
In 2025, De Cinema and the Flemish Architecture Institute (VAi) join forces for a unique series of monthly film evenings in De Cinema in Antwerp under the title “Architecture on Film”. Each first Tuesday of the month, this collaboration takes you into the world of architecture and cinema, where buildings become characters, cities set the stage, and design shapes the stories. For those seeking a second chance: the films will be re-screened without an introduction on the third Tuesday of the month.
