20th Tbilisi International Film Festival
By Mariam Chanishvili
Thursday, November 21
The 20th Tbilisi International Film Festival will take place on December 1-8 at Amirani Cinema.
This year, the festival will present up to 100 films in the sections: “European Film Forum”, “The Americas”, “The Horizons”, “Director in Focus”, “Country in Focus”, “Georgian Panorama”, “Apollo: Cinema Memory” and “Special Screenings.”
The festival opening will take place on December 1, with the presentation of the ‘Blackmail’ by British director Alfred Hitchcock, accompanied by Tbilisi Youth Orchestra, led by Mirian Khukhunishvili. The author of the music, British composer, Neil Brand will also attend the screening. ‘Blackmail’ is a part of the program “British Season” which is held in partnership with the British Council and British Embassy.
The film’s plot is quite simple, it is about a married woman who decides to spend some time with another man, which eventually led her to go up with him in his apartment. From then on the story reaches its peak.
Within the frame of cooperation with the Bristol Film Festival (Encounters) and ‘Watershed Bristol’, Tbilisi Film Festival presents DepicT! – a 90-second short film competition. The main goal of this competition is to discover emerging filmmakers with originality and rich imagination. The winner will have a chance to go to the Bristol Film Festival.
Tbilisi Film Festival holds national competition only. The awards will be given in the following categories: the best Feature Film, the Best Short Film, and the Best Documentary. The competition will be assessed by the international jury: Ulrich and Erika Gregor, Pablo De Vita, Nicolas Celis, and Heather Stewart.
Tbilisi International Film Festival was first established in 2000. The festival was born within a larger art festival framework entitled Gift, which carried numerous supporters and sponsors. Consequently, the festival at that time was able to have an interesting and diverse program. Faced by the threat of closure in 2002, a circle of friends and co-thinkers decided to set up the Cinema Art Center, Prometheus to maintain the festival alongside the coordination of other projects. In spite of scarce financial resources, the 2002 festival went on to be held by the Cinema Art Center, Prometheus.
The concept of the festival was clear from its very inception: it was intended to operate as a European Film Festival, which is why the Forum of European Cinema plays a huge role during this event.
Festival tickets will be available online and in the box-offices of Amirani Cinema.
