How François Truffaut’s “The 400 Blows” Inspired Georges Sikharulidze’s “Panopticon,” an Initiatory Tale

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 of the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, is a coming-of-age story about a young man who finds himself confronted with the absence of any meaningful parental authority.

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

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