19/02/2024 - BERLINALE 2024: Both the government's official Georgian National Film Center and the newly formed, independent Georgian Film Institute are present with separate stands at the market

This year, for the first time ever, the Berlinale's EFM is hosting two Georgian stands: those of the government's Georgian National Film Center (GNFC) and the newly formed, independent Georgian Film Institute (GFI). This is the result of the actions of the country's pro-Russian government, especially Minister of Culture Thea Tsulukiani, cracking down on independent culture and the reaction from the film industry, which joined forces last year through the boycott of the GNFC and improvised screenings of “problematic films”, such as Salomé Jashi's Taming the Garden [+see also:
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interview: Salomé Jashi
film profile], and Marjam Chachia and Nik Voigt's Magic Mountain [+see also:
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film profile]. These filmmakers have faced significant criticism and direct public attacks from official figures, including Tsulukiani, head of the parliament Irakli Kobakhidze and prominent politicians from the ruling party.

When Tsulukiani appointed ex-penitentiary official Koba Khubunaia as the acting director and TV personality Bacho Odisharia from a state-aligned channel as the head of the Film Production Department at the GNFC in June last year, the filmmakers' protests at the building that houses both the Ministry of Culture and the GNFC exploded, and the formation of the GFI was officially announced in December 2023 at the Tbilisi Film Festival.

“We understood that this movement was very important, but we needed to build something stronger than just protesting and to give some oxygen to the Georgian family,” says David Vashadze, executive director of the GFI and former head of international promotion at the GNFC. “The government was always giving very little money for cinema, and most feature-length fiction and documentary films were co-productions with European countries. That's where the idea to represent Georgian cinema in Berlin comes from.

“We are not dividing people; we are representing everyone. We have a catalogue with 54 projects, and we were not checking the names to see who had signed the boycott or not. But the GNFC staff have neither experience nor contacts within the international film industry. On the other hand, we are meeting with all of the A-class film festivals, different funds and institutions, and all of them understand the reality of what's happening here. That gives us a lot of hope.”

The GFI has no real funding yet; it is an enthusiastic endeavour helped by friends at home and internationally. Despite this, they are representing two films at the Berlinale this year: Levan Akin's Panorama opener Crossing [+see also:
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Moreover, Swedish-born Akin's new film deals with trans rights, following his gay-themed And Then We Danced [+see also:
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film profile], which prompted consternation and attacks in the often-homophobic Georgian society, led by the Georgian Orthodox Church and the pro-Russian government.

“We didn't have any financial participation in these two productions, but we are proud to put them on our stand and to support these films and what they speak about, as well as to stand with the directors and crews,” says In Bloom [+see also:
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film profile] director Nana Ekvtimishvili. She adds that the GNFC is not showcasing any of these films at their stand, even though Georgia has contributed financially. “Instead, they have displayed images from old Soviet films,” Ekvtimishvili notes. “The state's preference for deceased artists is evident, as they can no longer voice opinions. However, contemporary artists and filmmakers who express independent thoughts are scorned by those in authority owing to their critical stance.”

At the EFM, the GFI is hosting several events, and its members will take part in various panels. Moreover, on 17 and 18 February, Berlin's Wolf Kino screened a retrospective entitled “Georgian Cinema Untamed”, including Taming the Garden and Magic Mountain, but also Nutsa Gogoberidze's 1930s films Buba and Ujmuri, which were banned and were discovered only recently in Russian archives.

Cineuropa reached out to the GNFC for comment and received a letter stating that the GFI cannot be considered “independent”, as it is being financed by “the opposition political party Lelo, led by a former bank president and rich businessman, Mr Mamuka Khazaradze”. It goes on to state, “It has now become clear that their primary agenda revolves around making political statements and potentially engaging in protests during the film market. Their past actions in Georgia, characterised by politically driven speeches, divisive demands, disruptive protests, interruptions, and public and private harassment of the filmmakers cooperating with the GNFC, make this agenda even more evident.”