Experiencing Interruptions?

Freud and the Wolf Man

Young Sigmund Freud is invited to a remote estate in the Russian Empire, not far from Odessa. His host is a quiet aristocrat named Sergei, whose sleepwalking episodes have become increasingly erratic. Sergei’s wife, Sofia, hopes Freud can provide a short course of treatment before the winter sets in.
Eager to apply ideas from his developing work, The Interpretation of Dreams, Freud accepts the invitation. But the case proves more complex than expected, and he decides to extend his stay. As winter arrives, heavy snow isolates the estate completely. Trapped, Freud begins to notice strange behavior in the household—especially in the servants and Sergei, whose condition deteriorates into something far more sinister.

Dreams and delusions intertwine, and the very principles of his science come under siege.

With time running out and danger closing in, Freud must confront the darkest corners of both his patient’s psyche and his own, or risk being consumed by forces he cannot explain.

  • Mirza Davitaia
    Director
  • Mirza Davitaia
    Writer
  • Konstantin Konovalov
    Writer
  • Frank Mayor
    Producer
  • Mirza Davitaia
    Producer
  • Tinatin Dalakishvili
    Key Cast
  • Giorgi Bakhutashvili
    Key Cast
  • Ia Shugliashvili
    Key Cast
  • Givi Chuguashvili
    Key Cast
  • Giorgi Tsomaia
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Feature
  • Genres:
    Psychological Thriller, Mystery, Drama, Period
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 51 minutes 32 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    May 7, 2026
  • Production Budget:
    300,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Georgia
  • Country of Filming:
    Georgia
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Black & White and Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
Director Biography - Mirza Davitaia

Mirza Davitaia is a Georgian filmmaker, screenwriter, animator, and trained visual artist whose work has moved between animation and live action since 1993. Shaped by a background in fine arts and an international career spanning Germany, Georgia, Ukraine, and the United States, he has developed a distinctive visual approach that blends mythic imagery with psychological storytelling.

Over the years, Davitaia has worked in a wide range of creative roles in animation, most recently directing the feature-length animated films The Knight in the Tiger’s Skin and 300 Crusaders. Among his live-action projects, he wrote the screenplay for The Narrow Bridge, while Freud and the Wolf-Man marks his first work as a live-action director.

Throughout his career, he has collaborated with filmmakers and actors including Renny Harlin, Andy Garcia, Rupert Friend, Val Kilmer, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Michel Hazanavicius, and Zaza Urushadze. Davitaia currently divides his time between Los Angeles and Tbilisi, where he also runs a film academy.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

The film is structured as a gradual transformation. In its first half, it presents itself as an adventure into the unknown, colored by suspense and the excitement of discovery. A young Freud arrives at an isolated estate convinced that reason and emerging scientific methods can illuminate the mysteries of the human mind. As the story unfolds and winter closes around the estate, the film slowly shifts into psychological thriller territory. In the second half, it begins to question the very genre it inhabits, blurring the boundaries between reality, dreams, delusion, and unconscious desire. What appears to be a mystery becomes an examination of perception itself.
My first artistic education was in painting, and visual composition remains at the center of my filmmaking. I am drawn to strong contrasts of light and darkness, inspired by the dramatic chiaroscuro of Caravaggio and the expressive power of classical painting. In Freud and the Wolf-Man, I wanted the imagery to reflect the psychological states of the characters: beauty existing alongside unease, elegance interrupted by grotesque details, and shadows that seem to conceal more than they reveal. The isolated winter landscape becomes a visual extension of the unconscious mind—beautiful, silent, and dangerous.
Music plays an equally important role. Rather than approaching the film through contemporary thriller conventions, I imagined a soundscape inspired by nineteenth-century composers such as Tchaikovsky and Schubert. Their music carries both romantic grandeur and profound melancholy, qualities that mirror Freud’s journey into the hidden territories of the psyche.
My career has moved between animation and live action for more than three decades, and both disciplines have shaped my storytelling. Animation taught me to think in images, symbols, and visual metaphors; live action challenged me to find psychological truth within them. Freud and the Wolf-Man is where these two paths converge. It is a film about dreams, but also about the limits of interpretation. It asks what happens when a man who believes he can explain the darkness discovers that the darkness may be looking back at him.
At its core, this is a story about curiosity, fear, and the fragile boundary between knowledge and mystery. Freud enters the estate believing he is studying a patient. What he ultimately confronts is something far more unsettling: the possibility that some truths resist explanation.