How François Truffaut’s “400 Blows” inspired George Sikharulidze’s tale “Panopticon”

George Sikharulidze’s first feature film, “Panopticon,” is, according to the director, a very personal film.

The film, which had its world premiere in the main competition at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, is a coming-of-age story about a young man who finds himself in trouble, without any meaningful parental authority.

Sikharulidze, who grew up in a tough neighborhood in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi in the 1990s, where he lived with his grandmother, mother and sister, says he was inspired to take inspiration from his own experiences in his first film watching François Truffaut’s seminal 1959 film, “The 400 Blows.”

“I graduated from New York University’s Media and Communications program,” the New York-based director told Variety. “At the time, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to make films, but I saw a few films, including Truffaut, that led me to go to Columbia Film School to study directing.”