The Svaneti International Film Festival is to be held in Mestia and Ushguli on September 25-29. The festival will become an integral part of world film festivals and will host guests from different countries of the world.
The following will be presented at the festival:
International Competition for Short Feature, Documentary, and Animated Films – The winner for the short film will be awarded the “Goddess Dali Prize” in four nominations: Best Film / Best Director / Best Cinematography / Best Editing.
International Short Film Jury Members:
Jury Chairman: Paolo Bertolini
Film Director, Selector, Writer, and Producer. He has been a member of the feature film program group of the Venice Film Festival since 2008; Since 2019 he has also been a member of the Directors fortnight Film Selection Committee of the Cannes Film Festival Section; Since 2016 Locarno Open Doors Art Consultant; He has worked at several international film festivals and institutes, including IFFRotterdam, Doha Film Institute, Udine Far East FF, Torino FF, Mumbai IFF, Beijing IFF, IFFBratislava.
Jury member: Ana Urushadze
Director and screenwriter, her debut film “Scary Mother” received awards from the Asian Oscars, Locarno, Sarajevo, Beijing, Chicago, Antalya, European Film Academy.
Jury member: Levan Koguashvili
Screenwriter and director of the films: “Blind Dates,” which won the Critics’ Award at the Berlinale Film Festival; “Gogita’s New Life” – won the main award at the largest documentary film festival – IDFA; “Brighton 4th” – The film premiered a month ago and won four prizes at the Tribeca International Film Festival.
At the festival, the current trends and challenges in the film industry, as well as the topic ‘how to find a way for beginner directors’ will be covered in masterclasses with:
Christophe Leparc – Director-General of the Cannes Film Festival Young Film Competition – Director’s fortnight and the Montpellier Film Festival. He is also a member of the LUX Selection Panel (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021).
Vladimer Kacharava – Georgian producer, member of the European and Asian Film Academy, 2021 – a member of the feature film jury of the European Film Academy, 2018 – a member of the main jury of APSA; 2015 Sundance Script Lab; 2012 Producers on the Movie (Cannes Film Festival); 2011 – EAVE; 2010 – Eastern European Film Alliance; 2010 – Berlinale Talents; 2009 – Eastern European Co-Production 2006-2007 – IFA-SC, Training on the promotion of South Caucasian films and film Projects; 2006-2007, IFA-SC: Project and Script Development for South Caucasian Films; 2003 – AVANTI – A Program to Support the South Caucasian Film Community on Creative, Legal and Technical Levels.
Levan Koguashvili, and Paolo Bertolini.
Special guests of the festival to appear in Mestia: Head of the largest film distribution company Yohann Comte and also Samanta Taylor. Yohann Comte owns the most successful recent French film “The Intouchables,” which was seen by 25% of the French population in cinemas, etc.
The festival will be covered by famous foreign film platforms and journalists from Variety & Film News Europe will be invited to contribute several articles to the festival.
Supporters of the festival: general sponsor Hotel “Gistola” in Mestia, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth Affairs of Georgia, Georgian National Film Center, Georgian National Tourism Administration, Bank of Georgia, Teliani Valley, Mestia Municipality, Badagi and Olprint.
