EDI TORS LE T TER / 1
2014 turned out to be a very successful year for Georgian cinema. We must start with the news that Zaza Urushadze was a nominee at the Golden Globes and for Oscar with his film “Tangerines”, and two Georgian films (funded by the National Film Center): “Corn Island” (produced by Georgia) and “Tangerines” (produced by Estonia/Georgia) got onto the Academy Award short list. 2014 began with Eldar Shenegalia’s film “Blue Mountains, or the Unbelievable Story” participating in the Cannes Classic section at the Cannes Festival, where it was a great success. Dea Kulembegashvili’s minimalistic film “Invisible Spaces” also participated in the Cannes short film section. Tinatin Qajrishvili’s film “Brides” and Levan Koghuashvili’s “Blind Dates” participated in the Berlinale Forum and Panorama and together they won a total of around 30 international festival prizes. Giorgi Ovashvili’s film “Corn Island” won the Karlovy Vary Crystal Globe Award and was a triumph at the festival. A large-scale retrospective of Georgian films “Discover Georgian Cinema” was organized in the New York Museum of Modern Arts (MoMA) and in Berkeley’s Pacific Film Archive. About 50 Georgian films, beginning from the silent film era and ending with recent works, will eventually be screened. The Busan International Film Festival focused on Georgian female directors and films by Georgian female directors covering the period 1930 to 2014 were shown. A bilingual Georgian-Korean book “The Strength of Georgian Women Directors” was also published. Young director Mariam Khachvani’s short film “Dinola” was a nominee of the European Film Academy. This year, for the first time, we took part in the ceremony to confer the European Film Academy’s Young Audience Award. The festivals funded by us have long travelled beyond the borders of Georgia and earned international recognition and affection. These are the Tbilisi International Festival Prometheus, the Batumi International Auteur Film Festival, the Animated Film Festival Eco Topuzi, the Nikozi International Animated Film Festival in the small village of Nikozi bordered by Russian-occupied Ossetia, the very young (established for only two years) Sinedok International Documentary Film Festival, and the Amirani International Student Film Festival. We also have to note the children’s one-day festival Giffoni-Georgia, which was held for the first time in Georgia and quickly gained great affection “among the young people”. One of our favorite projects was “Film at School”. We prepare film specialists to go out into the schools in the regions and show children great films after their lessons. Admission is free. Discussions are held after the screening. The schoolchildren discovered the world of great classic cinema and showed their desire to go deeper into this world. We have many new plans for this year. We wish you a fruitful New Year full of new ideas; may 2015 be a year of creative development and the achievement of great goals. Nana Janelidze, Natia Kanteladze FILMPRINT