20th Tbilisi International Film Festival
By Mariam Chanishvili
Wednesday, December 11
The closing ceremony of the 20th Tbilisi International Film Festival took place on December 7 at Amirani Cinema. The festival ran from 1 to 8 December 2019.
The main prize of the Tbilisi International Film Festival "Golden Prometheus" was given to the nominees for the following categories: 1. Best Feature Film 2. Best Documentary Film 3. Best Short Film.
Alongside its regular sections (Horizons, Forum of European Cinema, Made In Germany) the festival focused this year on British cinema and the Mexican director Carlos Reygadas - this year's festival Director in Focus - an Argentinean director, who was awarded the prestigious Prometheus Award along with the Georgian film director and screenwriter, Irakli Kvirikadze, for the best filmmaker.
For the third time, apart from the official festival awards, the EU Delegation has established Human Rights in Cinema awards. The festival nominated 7 best films on human rights, of which the best film by the jury was awarded an EU prize.
Mikheil Kobakhidze's film The Wedding was screened at the closing ceremony, along with a screening of the movie Farewell by American director Lulu Wang, which created a farewell mood for the audience of the 20th Tbilisi International Film Festival.
Farewell is a 2019 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Lulu Wang. It stars Awkwafina, Tzi Ma, Diana Lin, Zhao Shuzhen, Lu Hong, and Jiang Yongbo. Released in July, The Farewell centers on a family telling a big lie in order to keep an even bigger secret.
The most exciting part of the Tbilisi International Film Festival is an International competition in which 10 - 12 directorial debut or second full-length feature films by European directors participate. Since the Festival takes place in December, we have the advantage of selecting films that have already gained popularity at different festivals in other parts of the world.
Inhale-Exhale by the acclaimed Georgian-born Berlin-based director Dito Tsintsadze was awarded the best feature film at the 20th edition of the Tbilisi International Film Festival. The film company Tera Incognita Films gave a special film camera award to two directors, Tsintsadze (Inhale-Exhale) and Uta Beria (Negative Numbers).
The Georgian Public Broadcaster (GPB) awarded GEL 20,000 to short and documentary winners.
Tbilisi International Film Festival brings great emphasis and awareness to the process and purpose of Georgian cinema. Every year the festival screens the latest Georgian films to a diverse audience. The Film Festival paves a way for local, upcoming filmmakers to be on the same pedestal and to compete on an international stage.
