Dea Kulumbegashvili may be the most celebrated filmmaker to emerge in the past decade from Georgia, a nation of about 3.6 million people that was once part of the Soviet Union. Her debut, “Beginning” (2020), was her country’s submission for the best international feature Oscar in 2021, and her latest, “April,” which opens in U.S. theaters on Friday, won the special jury prize at the 2024 Venice Film Festival.

Yet Kulumbegashvili, who lives in Berlin, doesn’t feel particularly welcome back home.

“April,” which follows an obstetrician who performs abortions illegally, has not been screened in Georgia. “It has no distribution potential because no one wants to deal with something that would cause a problem with the authorities,” Kulumbegashvili said in a video interview.

Though abortion is legal in Georgia for pregnancies under 12 weeks, the reality for women — especially those living outside the major cities — is complicated. A vast majority of Georgians are Orthodox Christians, and traditional ideas about gender roles and domesticity hold sway in most families.

The film was “essentially shot in secret,” Kulumbegashvili said. She did not seek domestic funding, instead relying on her producers — who included Luca Guadagnino, the Italian director of “Challengers” and “Call Me by Your Name” — to raise money from international sources.

Kulumbegashvili’s grew up in Lagodekhi, a small town at the foot of the Caucasus Mountains, near the border with Azerbaijan; both “Beginning” and “April” were shot there. Underage marriage is a continuing issue in the town, Kulumbegashvili said — as it is in the rest of the country.