Biography

Reza Mirkarimi was born in 1967 in Tehran and graduated in Graphic Arts at the Fine Arts University. His cinema activities began in 1987 with a series of shorts followed by two TV series aimed at young people. His first feature, THE CHILD AND THE SOLDIER (1999), won several national and international awards, including the Golden Butterfly at Isfahan International Children and Teenagers Film Festival, the Montgolfiere d'Argent at the 2000 Festival of 3 Continents in Nantes, France, as well the Golden Shoe at the Children and Teenagers Film Festival in Zelin, Croatia in 2001. His second feature UNDER THE MOONLIGHT won the Best Feature Award at the 40th Semaine de la Critique as well as the Best Director Award and the Special Jury Prize at Tokyo IFF in 2001. His fifth feature, AS SIMPLE AS THAT won the 2008 Golden St George Best Film Award at Moscow IFF. Three of his films have been presented by Iran for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar: SO CLOSE, SO FAR, A CUBE OF SUGAR and TODAY. His feature DAUGHTER won several awards at Moscow IFF in 2016. His latest film CASTLE OF DREAMS won the Best Feature Film, Best Director and Best Actor awards at Shanghai IFF in 2019.

Synopsis:

 
When mom is terminally ill at the hospital, dad comes along after the long years of absence. Anxious and hesitant, he has got no way but taking his son and his daughter away. But to which destination when he has not managed to build the castle of dreams drawn by mom for the children?

Biography

György Pálfi was born in 1974 in Budapest. He started shooting experimental Super 8 movies in 1987. 

He drew international attention with his writerdirector feature debut Hukkle, honored with a EFA for Discovery of the Year, received a FIPRESCI Award Special Mention in Cottbus. His second feature, Taxidermia, quickly became known for its kinkiness and violence. Taxidermia screened at Cannes in Un Certain Regard and won the Sundance Institute/NHK Award for Best European Film Project. His latest film, Final Cut – Ladies And Gentleman’s Special Screening was at Cannes Classics. Film “Free Fall” recived the Best director prize at Karlovy Vary film festival.  Latest film “His Master’s Voice” was premiered at Tokyo Film Festival. 

Synopsis

Peter, a journalist from Hungary, notices a man who looks like his long-disappeared father in a documentary film. He escaped Communist Hungary in the 1970s and nobody has heard of him since. Peter travels to the USA to find him. The series of events leads to the revelation of secret research on voices from space. One of Hungary's most distinctive directors, György Pálfi, refers to a book by the icon of Polish sci-fi Stanislav Lem.

Biography

Kıvanç Sezer was born in 1982 in Ankara, Turkey. He studied engineering at university before moving to Italy to take up a career as a filmmaker. He studied editing in Italy for two years at the prestigious Cineteca di Bologna. While there he met a number of important directors who inspired his work. He returned home to Turkey in 2009, making a living as an editor on TV projects and documentaries. In addition, he has created several shorts that have been screened at a variety of domestic and international venues. MY FATHER'S WINGS represents his first foray into features as a director. It premiered at Karlovy Vary IFF in 2016. LA BELLE INDIFFERENCE is his second film.

SYNOPSIS

Onur is sacked from his job as manager of a pharmaceutical company. He’s not too bothered about being unemployed, but the same cannot be said of his wife Bahar. Onur doesn’t listen to her and becomes indifferent not only to her anxieties but also to the world around him. He’d rather be surrounded by more zebras. A drama with dashes of absurd comedy about events that are no laughing matter: a personal crisis that impacts their marriage.

Biography

Azerbaijan-born filmmaker Elmar Imanov (1985) is currently based Cologne, where he studied Directing at the internationale filmschule köln (ifs). His graduation film THE SWING OF THE COFFIN MAKER (2012) was presented at more than 120 film festivals and won 42 awards worldwide, among which the Student Oscar. His follow-up short TORN (2014) had its world premiere at Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes. Both films were produced by Eva Blondiau, with whom he founded the production company COLOR OF MAY.

Synopsis

A small Azerbaijanian family is shaken to the core by an incident. Father Samir, mother Fidan, and their eighteen-year-old son Machmud all seem to be independent-minded family members, but independence of spirit and action sometimes brings along estrangement, lack of understanding and compassion. The family beach trip turns out differently than expected.

Synopsis

Three sisters-Reyhan, Nurhan, and Havva-are reunited in the remote mountain village where they grew up with their father, after having lived as besleme (foster child and maid) with their foster parents in the city. All three desire to return to the city as soon as possible, whether this might be achieved depends on their tactics of solidarity, competition, and on the decisions of the men around them including their father, their foster-father, and Reyhan’s husband.

Biography

Born in Ermenek, Turkey in 1974, he studied economics and history at Boğaziçi University in Istanbul and has a PhD in Turkish modern history. His debut feature film Tepenin Ardi (Beyond the Hill) screened in the 2012 Forum where it won the Caligari Film Prize. His second film, Frenzy, premiered in competition at the Venice International Film Festival and won the Special Jury Prize. Alongside his work as a filmmaker, he teaches modern history in the Humanities and Social Sciences Department at Istanbul Technical University.

Biography

Marko Škop (b. 1974) was awarded degrees in Journalism and in Film Direction in Bratislava, Slovakia. His full-length documentary directorial debut OTHER WORLDS (2006) won a Special Mention from the Jury at Karlovy Vary IFF and was the first-ever documentary in the festival’s history to win the Audience Award. Marko Škop was the script consultant and producer of the film BLIND LOVES by Juraj Lehotský, which had its world première in Cannes at the Director's Fortnight and won the CICAE Art Cinema Award in 2008. His second directorial full-length documentary film OSNADE (2009) was awarded Best Documentary at the Karlovy Vary IFF. His film EVA NOVA (2015) premiered at Toronto IFF, where it won the FIPRESCI Prize. His latest film LET THERE BE LIGHT (2019) has been selected for Karlovy Vary IFF.

Synopsis

Milan (40) has three children and does construction work in Germany in order to provide for his family in Slovakia. While visiting his home over Christmas he discovers that his eldest son Adam is a member of a para-military youth group. The boy is involved in bullying and the death of a class-mate. The father has to decide what to do. In this process, along with his wife, he comes to discover the real truth about their son, their family, themselves and the community around them.

Biography

Mark Jenkin was born in 1976. Since 1997, he has made more than 50 short films. In 2012, he wrote the "Silent Landscape Dancing Grain 13 Film Manifesto", which comprises 13 rules that he follows when making his own films. His latest film BAIT has been selected at the Berlinale Forum and New Directors New Films 2019.

Synopsis

Filmed in black and white on a hand-cranked 16mm Bolex, Bait is a unique, genre-defying new feature from British writer-director Mark Jenkin.

Set in a modern-day Cornish village, the film follows disgruntled fisherman Martin, who is struggling to buy a boat while coping with family rivalry and the influx of London money, Airbnb and stag parties to his coastal town. The summer season brings simmering tensions between the locals and newcomers to boiling point, with tragic consequences

Biography 

Jacek Borcuch was born in Poland in 1970. He is a director, screenwriter, and actor. He graduated in philosophy at Warsaw University and acting at Theater Academy in Warsaw. His film All That I Love (2009) screened at the Busan International Film Festival, the International Film Festival Rotterdam, the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, and other festivals. His film Lasting (2013) won the World Cinema Dramatic Cinematography Award at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.

Synopsis

Maria Linde, a free-spirited, Jewish Polish Nobel Prize winner, lives in Tuscany surrounded by warmth and chaos in her family’s villa. A loving mother and grandmother, she also fosters a secret flirtation with the much younger Egyptian man who runs a nearby seaside inn. After a terrorist attack in Rome, Maria refuses to succumb to the hysterical fear and anti-immigrant sentiment that quickly emerge, deciding in her acceptance speech of a local honor to boldly decry Europe’s eroding democracy—but she is unprepared for the public and personal havoc her comments wreak.

Biography

Veit Helmer shot his first film at the age of 14. He moved from West to East Germany three months before the fall of the Berlin Wall to study directing at the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts. In 1991-1996 he studied directing at the film academy HFF Munich.
His films (Tuvalu, Absurdistan and Baikonur) were invited to major festivals, including Berlin, Cannes, Venice and Sundance. His films altogether received more than 180 awards. 

Synopsis

Train driver Nurlan is heading to Baku for the last time before retirement. On its way round the neighborhoods of the city his train snags a blue bra off a washing line. To escape from his lonely existence, Nurlan embarks on the most adventurous journey of his life: to find the owner of this perky piece of underwear. He rents a small room in Baku and begins his quest. With great dedication, Nurlan knocks at every door along the train track. While the women he encounters have their own reasons for letting him into their private worlds, his ‘project’ does not remain unnoticed by their husbands. The more difficult it gets, however, the more creative and determined Nurlan becomes to convince every woman to try on the bra.

Biography

Aleksi Salmenpera is one of the most acclaimed Finnish filmmakers whose works have premiered in major film festivals such as Berlinale (A Bad Family, 2009), Hot Docs (Alcan Highway, 2013) and San Sebastian (A Man’s Job, 2007). He won the Jussi Award for Best Director with Distractions (2105), and with The Mine (2016) he was nominated for the Dragon Award for Best Nordic Film in Gothenburg IFF.

Synopsis

Eero’s career as an author is spiraling down: he just can’t get started with his new novel. The ambitious actor Pihla is about to get her international break. Neither of them is willing to sacrifice their career even though their relationship is doing worse than ever. Void is a tragic and kooky comedy-drama about the price of success and the agony of failure, and about situations where your partner just doesn’t get it.

Biography

Misho Antadze was born in 1993 in Tbilisi. In 2011 he left for California to study Film and Video Arts at the Arts Institute of California (CalArts). In 2014 his film "The Many Faces of Comrade Gelovani" was premiered at the Vienna Film Festival. Misho graduated from CalArts in 2015 and continued working in the US for the next two years as an editor, translator and a director.

After finishing production of his full-length debut documentary The Harvest, Antadze moved to Amsterdam, where he is currently taking a research at the Netherlands Film Academy Artistic Research In and Through Cinema program. His shorts have shown at Ann Arbor Film Festival, L’Age d’Or Brussels and others.

Synopsis 

There's a crypto currency gold rush in the agricultural region of Kakheti, Georgia. The Harvest follows the flow of electricity in the landscape, from a power station to the computers that mine cryptocurrency. A drone flies over a vineyard, cows graze by a telecommunication tower, labor is performed by humans and machines. An observation on the eradication of the boundary between the natural and the virtual in the internet era.

Biography

Hilal Baydarov was born in 1987 in Baku, Azerbaijan. During his high school years, he won the national championships of mathematics twice in 2004 and 2005. In 2011 he leads the Azeri team at the informatics olympiad in Thailand. After a master in computer sciences, he left for Sarajevo to study film directing with Bela Tarr. His debut feature film HILLS WITHOUT NAMES was premiered at the Montreal Film Festival in 2018, the same year he won the Docu Talent award at Sarajevo Film Festival for his film BIRTHDAY. WHEN THE PERSIMMONS GREW is Baydarov's third feature film which will premiere in competition at the Visions du réel film festival in Nyon. 

SYNOPSIS

Immobile in a home where the sands of time fall to the rhythm of rural Azerbaijani sounds, a mother waits for her son. When he arrives, their conversations circle around existential questions and news from afar, troubling and cryptic. Unrest cloaks the world outside. Mother and son grow closer, silence melts into words, and life springs between them. The son leaves, and winter settles in to the forever-outdated house in which temporalities blurs and past and present beat to the rhythm of the same clock.

Biography

Yuriy Shylov graduated from the directing department of Kyiv National Karpenko-Kary University of Theatre, Cinema and Television. He has worked with feature and documentary projects. In 2015, he shot the short film WEIGHT, Audience Prize in VGIK International Film Festival and in 2016 the short documentary PANORAMA: Docudays UA IFF – Student Jury Prize. Kyiv ISFF – Jury’s Special Mention, Audience Prize. Odessa IFF – Jury’s Special Mention. Gogolfest UA – Best Short Nonfiction Film. His latest work is the documentary PROJECTIONIST (2019) which premiered at KVIFF.

Synopsis

Valentin is over sixty and has spent more than forty years working at Kyiv’s oldest movie theater. You don’t have to twist his arm to go out drinking and dancing – the eccentric man simply ignores his age. He lives a satisfied “cinematic” life while caring for his ill mother with love and a sense of humor. But as with everyone else, life puts up new obstacles that he must overcome. Through careful observation, the movie offers more than a portrait of the jovial, outgoing Valentin. It also takes a nostalgic look at the past, here personified by the old-timers with whom Valentin drinks a toast while the movie projector rattles on…

Biography

Elke Margarete Lehrenkrauss is a Berlin based filmmaker and visual artist, born in 1979. In 2012, she graduated with distinction from the Academy of Media Arts Cologne (KHM) as fellow of the German National Academic Foundation. In 2003, she received her diploma in Video Arts from the Lucerne School of Art and Design (HSLU). Her films and artworks have been exhibited at festivals, in museums and galleries worldwide and won numerous awards. Lovemobil is her feature debut.

Synopsis

When night falls in rural Germany, old VW-caravans decorated with flashy lights line the highway roads which lead through potato fields and dark forests. Inside these buses prostitutes from Eastern Europe and Africa await their clients who are passing by. The film portrays these women who came from far away in search for money and a better life. Until one day, in the ghostly atmosphere, a murder of one of the prostitutes happens and shakes up the whole scene causing everybody to take action. A film about a microcosm that describes a society at the outer edge of globalized capitalism.

Biography 

Sean McAllister is an award-winning documentary filmmaker celebrated as one of the UK’s most exciting talents. In 1996 he graduated National Film and Television School in Beacons field, graduating in 1996. After several award-winning television documentaries he founded his own production company, Tenfoot Films, in the year 2000. 

From his early films to his successes, Sundance Jury Prize-winning Liberace of Baghdad (2004), Japan: A Story of Love and Hate (2008) etc., Sean’s work continues to inspire, surprise and fascinate audiences. His films portray, with characteristic intimacy and frankness, people from different parts of the world who are struggling to survive but are survivors, caught up in political and personal conflict, trying to make sense of the world we live in. 

In 2005 his remarkable film ‘The Liberace Of Baghdad‘ about Iraqi pianist Samir Peter won the Special Jury Prize (World Documentary) at the Sundance Film Festival.  His last films  Reluctant Revolutionary (2012), A Syrian Love Story (2015) participated various film festivals with great success. 

Synopsis 

Filmmaker Sean McAllister return to his hometown of Hull as creative director of the opening ceremony of the City of Culture celebrations, where he reflects on the changes to a city hit by cuts in public spending and divided by Brexit. The film follows local resident Steve Arnott, a struggling warehouse worker by day and hip-hop performer by night, who harbours his own creative dream.

“Back home in Hull, where I began, I have been filming Steve and wondering whether he can, against the odds, unlock the opportunities to build a better life? Is social mobility possible in cities like Hull? What role does culture have to play in this? How long can he hold onto his dreams for?”

Biography

Waad is a former student of Aleppo University. She has since worked for Orient TV and Al Arabiya in addition to Channel 4 News, for whom she is a regular contributor. The first of Waad’s films aired on Channel 4 News in early 2016. In only a few months her reports from Syria became the most-watched pieces on the channel, and have been collectively seen by over 400 million people worldwide.  

Edward Watts is an Emmy award-winning, BAFTA nominated filmmaker who has directed over twenty narrative and documentary films. Together with Waad Al Kateab, he directed FOR SAMA (2019) which won the Grand Jury prize for Best Documentary as well as the Audience Award at SXSW Festival in March 2019 and the Golden Eye award at Cannes Film Festival.

Synopsis

FOR SAMA traces the journey of a young woman, Waad al-Kateab, through love, marriage and motherhood across five years of the revolution in Aleppo, Syria. An intimate, visceral documentary about the female experience of war, Waad faces an impossible decision: should she flee the city to protect her young daughter’s life? But to leave means abandoning the struggle for freedom for which she has already sacrificed so much. The film is the first feature documentary by Emmy award-winning filmmakers, Waad Al-Kateab and Edward Watts.

Biography

Helena Třeštíková 

Graduated  from the Department of Documentary Film at FAMU, Prague. Since 1974, she has made over

50 documentaries. She focuses mostly on human relationships and social issues, and specializes in time-lapse documentaries in which she follows her protagonists over an extended period of time. Helena is one of the most successful Czech documentarists. She won the main competition at the IFF Karlovy Vary twice (1998 - Sladke stoleti; 2015 - Mallory). In 2010, Helena’s Katka won the Czech Lion and her René triumphed at the 2008 European Film Awards.

Jakub Hejna 

Editor and director. In 2001, Jakub started his own film studio called Young-Film. He was the editor of

Helena Trestikova’s many successful documentaries (A Marriage Story, Mallory, Katka, René) and edited

also feature films, e.g. Fair Play, Dukla 61. He debuted as a director with the Theatre Svoboda, documentary about his grandfather, stage designer Josef Svoboda. With Helena Trestikova, he co-directed Doomed Beauty in 2016, documentary about the life of actress Lida Baarova

Synopsis

Forman vs. Forman is a highly resourceful portrait of the Oscar-winning Czech director. The movie is unique for its ingenious compilation of images drawing on archive footage and also unfamiliar shots of the filmmaker’s life discovered in the collections of friends and colleagues. Miloš Forman sanctioned the creators’ idea to make the film, supported by the ARTE network, but he himself never got to be part of the project. Nevertheless, he is present in the scenes taken from his movie sets and through his reflections: in recordings from the early 1980s with Věra Chytilová and Jaromil Jireš he discusses freedom, creative work and the restrictions on both. The celebrated filmmaker’s autobiographical reminiscences are narrated by his son Petr Forman.

Biography

Born in London, UK in 1952, she studied cinematography and directing at the National Film and Television School in Beaconsfield. Since 1978, she has made numerous documentaries which focus above all on rebels and outsiders. Her work first screened in the Panorama Dokumente section in 2001 with Gaea Girls, about two girls in a Japanese training camp for wrestlers; Salma, about the lives of Muslim women in southern India, screened in Panorama in 2013. Her film Dreamcatcher won the World Cinema Documentary Directing Award at Sundance in 2015.

Synopsis

Shooting the Mafia, unflinchingly explores the stark reality of life, and death, under the oppressive yoke of the Corleonesi Mafia. Photographer Letizia Battaglia stood up to the Mafia and it is through her lens that we enter this world of ritualized slaughter, omertà, semi-religious oppression and feudal control. The scale of the mafia’s brutality and power is revealed through a combination of rare archive footage, newsreel and personal photographs and memories. The power of Letizia's photography and the bravery and dedication of people like her helped to finally bring to an end the brutal reign of a bunch of small town thugs who's reign of fear reached as far as the Italian presidency.

Biography

Born in Tbilisi, Georgia, 1986.  During 2008 – 2012, studied at Shota Rustaveli Theatre and Film Georgian State University, Faculty of Film and TV, Major in Directing. After diploma work “The most precious” (2012) he made another short film “Three steps” (2017), which was premiered at Rotterdam film festival and after that it was shown at 20 festivals and received 10 awards. In 2020 it is planed a premiere of his debut feature film “Otar’s Death”.

Synopsis

The film is about two German tourists’ adventure in a Georgian village.

Biography

Giga Baindurashvili was born in family of a sculptor in Tbilisi on 1988 October 8^th. Since childhood he had a passion towards the arts. He was interested in painting and photography and cinematography. In 2010 he graduated from Film and Theater University where he shot several short films and was intern on several film productions.  After graduation he started working in Film and TV industry were he made several TV shows and movies including his last film “Gabana”

Synopsis

Life of a 35 year old 'Gold Digger', turns upside down when his older brother returns from emigration.

Biography 

Nika KURDADZE was born in 1989 in Tbilisi (Georgia). He studied theatre directing before leaving his homeland with his family for political reasons in 2010. In France, Nika continued his vocation, by studying Film making at Ecole Superieur de Réalisation Audiovisuel (ESRA) and then in the University Paris 8.

Synopsis

In a society lead by a dictatorship, Frederic, a jailed painter try to survive through his creation. Avoiding obstacles preventing him to achieve his goal by the use of censorship, he have to find a different way in order to claim his freedom. At the same time, an unexpected meeting with another victim of this madness create a perfect conditions to support each other in this path.

Synopsis

Gia, a participant in the Georgian Civil War of the early 1990s, is looking for fever medicine for his ill son amidst the unrest and political chaos, as well as the economic and social hardship, when he meets his beloved school friend from the enemy’s camp.

Biography

Born in 1990 July 18 in Tbilisi, Georgia. Graduated from Shota Rustaveli Theatre and Film Georgian State University in 2012. Studied fiction film directing in Mikho Borashvili's workshop. In 2015 he gained Master degree in the same university still in film directing, master: Merab Kokochashvili. He has filmed up to 10 fiction and documentary films and got several international film festival awards.

Biography

Amiran Dolidze was born in 1987 in Tbilisi, Amiran Dolidze graduated in 2009 from the Film and TV Directing Department of the University of Theatre and Cinema of Georgia, majoring in directing clips and commercials. In 2011, he graduated from the University of Theatre and Cinema with a Master in Scriptwriting.

Synopsis 

On the street of a bleak suburb four deadbeats hang out and do nothing, but one of them doesn’t look like the others. He is the one who finds out that the world is a struggle for survival, where boundaries between humans and animals are deadly blurred.

Biography

Victoria Hunt is an Australian-born artist working across the spheres of dance, choreography, culture, performance art and education. Her work has been presented at national and international festivals such TAKE is her first film. Hunt directed her first film, the short TAKE (2019) presented at SYDNEY 2019

Synopsis

A dancer enters the liminal spaces between history and emotion to retell the story of her ancestral Māori meeting house Hinemihi o te Ao Tawhito.

Biography

Amir Gholami / Master's Degree in Cinema /  Professor  of Cinema in University / Making 3 Short Films and 2 Documentaries / Receiving More Than 40 National and International Cinema Awards /  Writing and publishing more than 30 cinema articles /  Jury in several national and international film festivals

Synopsis

The War is surrounding an old man’s life who lives in middle of the Sea. (world without land)

Biography

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1991, Agustina San Martín studied film and then worked as a screenwriter and cinematographer. She presented her directing debut in 2016 with the short film THE CRY OF THE OXEN. The film premiered at the Cartagena International Film Festival in Colombia and won several awards. She was a participant in Berlinale Talents in 2016. Her latest film MONSTER GOD (2019) won Short Film Special Mention at Cannes IFF.

Synopsis

God is now a Power Plant. On a misty night cows escape, a child is chosen, and a girl tries to find freedom

Biography

Louise Courvoisier has learned screenwriting in the National Cinema School "La Cinefabrique" in Lyon, France. She graduated in 2018 with a short-film she directed "Mano a mano" about circus artists, and won the first price at Cannes film Festival, Cinéfondation.  Before being a filmmaker, she was also a singer and circus artist with her family. She likes to use this experience in her films.

Synopsis

Abby and Luca, a couple of acrobatic artists, travel to perform from stage to stage. Their relationship is getting worse. The time of a trip by camper, they will have to face their problems and try to regain confidence in one another.

Biography

Taewoo Kim is a Korean filmmaker and producer.  Graduated - Korea National University of Arts,

Visual Art, visual communication design in 2009 and school of Advanced imaging Science,

Multimedia & Film Chung-Ang University, Animation MFA in 2017. His film THE GREAT 60 DAYS was selected at BIFAN IFF in 2019.

Synopsis

Dr. Kim Tam-gu is experimenting on fruit flies in the research lab of the Korea Research Center of Bioscience and Biotechnology. He is developing a substance that can dramatically increase activity in brain cells. After a series of failures, one fruit fly finally has a huge reaction. Its intellectual abilities have exploded, enabling it to speak! After 60 days, we're learning about the life of the great fruit fly through Dr. Kim's interview.

Biography

Keren Marciano learned at the National Superior Conservatory of Dramatic Art and then at EICAR and Femis. Keren directed her first short film "Memoires of a disturbed young lady", with Sara Giraudeau and Marie-Christine Barrault.    She co- directed with Éric Guirado for Canal + "When I was young I would be an actor" a documentary about the feelings of young actors in features like Haneke’s White ribbon, Maiwen’s Polisse... In 2018, she plays Karen in the comedy "Les Goûts et les Couleurs" on Netflix.

Synopsis

In this highly stylized B&W revenge comedy, Elena discovers that her lover Arturo is tired of their relationship but doesn’t have the guts to tell her. She suspects that Arturo might have gay proclivities and sets a trap by hiring a young “straight” actor, Bastein, to seduce Arturo and make him suffer. But Elena becomes a victim of her own trap when she finds herself celebrating Arturo’s gay wedding day.

Synopsis

Anna is a blind piano player. She loves to perform live on stage and always looks out for opportunities to do so. Tonight she is going to play a composition by Chopin in a small bar. While moving trough the place she runs into a waitress carrying a tray of glasses. Max the Barkeeper helps her to collect the shards from the ground and falls in love with her on first sight. After her performance he accompanies her home. They spend the night together.

Biography

Bidzina Gogiberidze is born in Tbilisi, Georgia. He studied acting at the Shota Rustaveli University of Theater and Film in Tbilisi. Since 2015 he studies Film & Sound at the University of applied Sciences and Arts in Dortmund with a focus on Directing.

Biography

Dekel Berenson is originally from Israel. He graduated Masters in International Relations from the Central European University in Budapest in 2006. Over the past three years, he has combined his two passions, making artistic films of high quality that bring to light real-world social and humanitarian issues. His 2nd film Ashmina won several prizes, including the Best Short Film award at the 59th Krakow Film Festival, allowing it to complete for a short Oscar. His 3rd film, Anna, premiered in competition at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival. He is currently working on his first feature.  

Synopsis

Living in war-torn Eastern Ukraine Anna is an aging single mother who is desperate for a change. Lured by a radio advertisement, she goes to party with a group of American men who are touring the country, searching for love.

Biography

Toma Stenko was born in Georgia. Graduated from BA and MA of Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design in London as an artist and designer. She participated in several art exhibitions and fashion weeks in Paris, London, Berlin and Japan. Worked as an artist in British national ballet company, theater and cinema. Had an internship in the Mary Matranzy and Alexander Macquen studios in London. In 2017 she graduated from Higher Courses for Scriptwriters and Directors in Moscow. she made several short films and now prepararing for the shooting of a full-length feature film.

Synopsis

Sirofima, a young and beautiful girl living with a younger brother Anton in a big country house. She often has men coming over to “entertain” her and leave her some money. So why does she feel like she keeps falling lower and lower in life. Why does she suffer, why does she wash herself 8 times a day? With the sounds of eastern flute: Duduk. We find out the cause of her pain.

Biography

Alexandra Markova, was born in Vitebsk, Republic of Belarus. In 2016, she graduated from the Belarusian state Academy of arts Minsk, majoring in "Directing film and television". In 2017 entered into Belarusian Union of cinematographers. She worked as a documentary filmmaker at the National film Studio "Belarusfilm". The Participant and prize-winner of different international film festivals.

Synopsis

This film is about Nadya, the main heroine, whose life is a tragedy. She is a young and attractive woman, also wife and mother, who first faced her only child’s illness – autism, and then her own – cancer. In spite of all this, Nadezhda managed to organize the whole movement and set up an official organization which helps children and adults with special needs by means of therapy. Being socially active, getting on well with dogs and taking care of the child help her to fight the illness without losing heart. 

Biography 

Masoud Soheili was born in 1988 in Mashhad, Iran. He studied cinema in Indonesia and South Korea.

Just with His second short film "Blue eyed boy" (2014) he won 20 international awards from more than 140 international film festivals.He was member of the juries of  various film festivals He is co-founder and creative director of "Asia Peace Film Festival" in Islamabad, Pakistan and programmer of "Changing Perspective Intentional Film Festival" in Istanbul,Turkey. He was also worked as a festival director of Inaugural "Safe Community" International Film Festival in Mashhad, Iran (2017) .

Synopsis

A mini-bus is on a journey across the mountains to Kabul. Each person on the bus has a reason to take this journey. An old man is traveling to give a turkey to his grandchild, as his last wish before dying. However, the main road is blocked by insurgents. They decide to use an alternative road, which is not very secure, and there is still the possibility of getting caught by insurgents.

Biography  

Vahid Hoseyni Nami - Directed 20 documentaries and short films – participating in and winning some national and international film festivals for example In the Palace Bulgaria, Perth Film Fest Australia, Lucania Italy, Ismailia Egypt

Navid Hosseini Nami - Master’s Degree in Painting, Several individual and group exhibition paintings

Scene designer and art director of several short and documentary films 

Synopsis

The story is about a suffocation city. That everyone opposes dictatorship, the smallest punishment is the cutting of the ear. In a rainy night, a man finds an ear on the ground…

Synopsis

At the age of 27, fllm director decided to travel back to my homeland, Georgia.  Through her 70-year-old Grandmother, Aza, she reconnect with the roots that she buried at the ages of 7, when she left with parents for a new country and she discover how the Grandma copes when she is fired from her job and starts accumulating debts at the banks and cannot retire as pensions in Georgia are too small to live by.

Biography

Maggie Basilia finished 4th year at Sapir school of visual & audio arts in the film department. She was born in the capital of Georgia, Tbilisi. Moved with her parents to Israel in 1999 at the age of 7. Short film experience: “Delicate Skies” - a short film co produced with the film school in Łódź, Poland as part of a DocuVillage project. Directed during the project a short film in Poland about well known Polish director and producer, Yanush Morgenstein. Filmed over 5 days, the film was later screened at the Haifa film festival in 2018.

Biography

Born in Russia and raised in Texas, Daniel graduated from USC School of Cinematic Arts in Los Angeles with a Master of Fine Arts in film directing. His graduate thesis film 'Moment Théâtral' (2007) received the prestigious Jack Nicholson Directing Award. Daniel produced the animated feature film 'Purim: The Lot' (2013), which is now out in wide release on home video and VOD. He directed the documentaries 'Kaltag, Alaska' and 'Kamchatka: The Salmon Country' in association with the WWF. Daniel lectures on filmmaking at universities and colleges around Houston, Texas.

Synopsis

A Russian cellist is stranded in Texas countryside as she tries to reconcile everyday life and her commitment to art.

Biography

Irene Moray (1992) is a photographer and filmmaker from Barcelona. In 2012 she moves to Berlin and for three years she collaborates with the performance collective the--family with which she performs in various cultural entities throughout Europe. After four years in Germany she decides to return to her hometown where she has shot her next short film as a writer and director:  She works as a photographer for different agencies, producers and publications such as i-D, Dream Magazine, S.C.P.F., Distinto Films or Erika Lust.

Synopsis

Barbara and Pol spend a few days on holiday with a group of friends in a house surrounded by nature. They want to have a good time and find a peaceful space where they can enjoy their intimacy.   

With the support of Pol, in the midst of nature, between tears and laughter, Barbara will heal old wounds and redefine her sexuality.

Biography

Nikon Romanchenko - born in 1991 in Kiev, Ukraine. In 2014 he completed his directing studies at the Kiev National Theatre, Cinema and Television University. Since then he has produced several documentary fiction and experimental films. He is a member and co-founder of the NGO "CUC – Contemporary Ukrainian Cinema". TERA is based on his short film UNAVAILABLE and is his feature film debut.

Synopsis

Lyuba works at a confectionery factory in a small town in the West. Her son is in the war zone in the East of the country and there is no connection with him. Lyuba goes in search of his son in an unfamiliar territory.

Biography

Nada Riyadh is an Egyptian screenwriter and director. Her debut documentary film (Happily Ever After) premiered at IDFA in 2016, and was later screened in more than 20 international film festivals. Her work mainly focuses on exploring the depth and complexity of the human psyche and relationships through the visual medium. Her second short film Fakh (The Trap) is selected at the 58th Semaine de la Critique.

Synopsis

Away from preying eyes, a young unmarried couple retreat to the depth of a desolate run-down Egyptian seaside resort, to make love. The power dynamic between them is tested, when the girl reveals she wants their relationship to end.

Biography 

ORKHAN AGHAZADEH – was born in Lenkoran, Azerbaijan on 30 August 1988. After getting his bachelor degree in “Journalism and Mass Communications “ in the Baku Slavic University, he then got scholarship from the Ministry of Education and started his MA in Filmmaking in the London Film School. “The Chairs” is his graduation film.

Synopsis

Kerim and Rena were in love, but had to marry other people. Despite the passing of time, their love is now prohibited and dangerous in the society they live in. On the hill where all villagers have to come to use mobile phones, they see each other every week, but can’t display their feelings at all. The only secret way of expressing their love is through lights flashing in the darkness of night.

Biography

Pham Thien An is a film director, producer, and screenwriter born in Vietnam. In 2015, he moved to Houston, Texas (USA) and continued working as a freelance filmmaker. His short film THE MUTE (2018) has travelled across several film festivals such as Winterthur, Palms Spring, Uppsala, Encounters,... His short STAY AWAKE, BE READY was supported by CJ Short Film Making Project and has been selected at the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs 2019

Synopsis

On a street corner a mysterious conversation among three young men at a street stalls. Meanwhile a traffic accident on a motorbike. The night brings together a sketch, a multicolour frame of reality .

Biography

Wei Shujun, young director, was born in Beijing in 1991 and is a graduate from Communication University of China.In 2016, Wei's debut film Duck Neckwas nominated for the 21st South Korea’s Busan International Film Festival's A Window on Asia Cinema.  His  short movie On the Borderwas selected to the Official Competition of the 71st Cannes Film Festival.   

Synopsis

A Korean teen named Hua Dongxing decides to leave his remote village. To realize his desire, he goes in town looking for his father and asking for travel expenses. This search takes him on a wondering roam.

Biography

Brothers Jean-Pierre Dardenne (French: [daʁdɛn]; born 21 April 1951) and Luc Dardenne (born 10 March 1954), collectively referred to as the Dardenne brothers, are a Belgian filmmaking duo. They write, produce and direct their films together.

The Dardennes began making narrative and documentary films in the late 1970s. They came to international attention in the mid-1990s with La Promesse (The Promise). They won their first major international film prize when Rosetta won the Palme d'Or at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. Their work tends to reflect left-wing themes and points-of-view.

In 2002, Olivier Gourmet won Best Actor at Cannes for the Dardennes' Le Fils (The Son). In 2005, they won the Palme d'Or a second time for their film L’Enfant (The Child), putting them in an elite club, at the time, of only seven. Their film, Le Silence de Lorna (Lorna's Silence), won Best Screenplay at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival and was released in Europe in the fall. Their film The Kid with a Bike won the Grand Prix at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, received one Golden Globe nomination and eight Magritte Award nominations. Jean-Pierre was the jury president for the Cinéfoundation and Short Films sections of the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.^[2] In 2015, their film Deux jours, une nuit (Two Days, One Night) received nine Magritte Award nominations (winning three) and one Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for Marion Cotillard. Their 2019 feature Young Ahmed won them the Best Director Award at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. ^[3]

Synopsis 

In Belgium, today, the destiny of young Ahmed, 13, caught between his imam's ideals of purity and life's temptations. How can love of life win out over his desire to put someone to death?

Biography

Ken Loach (b. 1936, Nuneaton, UK) studied law, had a short stint in the theater, and was hired by the BBC in 1963 as an assistant director. He grabbed the limelight with the TV play Cathy Come Home (1966) and with his first two features, Poor Cow (1967) and Kes (winner of the Crystal Globe at the 1970 KVIFF). Loach spent the next two decades working in TV and making commercially unsuccessful pictures. The turning point came with Riff-Raff (1990), followed by award-winning titles, including Hidden Agenda (1990), Raining Stones (1993), Land and Freedom (1995), My Name Is Joe (1998), Sweet Sixteen (2002), Ae Fond Kiss (2004), The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006), It’s a Free World (2007), Looking for Eric (2009), Route Irish (2010), and The Angels’ Share. Loach’s films (I, Daniel Blake; Sorry we missed you) have snatched up multiple prizes at various IFF (Cannes, Venice, Berlin) and at Britain’s BAFTA Awards.

SYNOPSIS

Ricky and his family have been fighting an uphill struggle against debt since the 2008 financial crash. An opportunity to wrestle back some independence appears with a shiny new van and the chance to run a franchise as a self-employed delivery driver. It's hard work, and his wife's job as a career is no easier. The family unit is strong but when both are pulled in different directions everything comes to breaking point.

Biography

Agnieszka Holland (born 28 November 1948) is a Polish film and television director and screenwriter. Best known for her political contributions to Polish cinema, Holland is one of Poland's most eminent filmmakers. She began her career as assistant to directors Krzysztof Zanussi and Andrzej Wajda, and emigrated to France shortly before the 1981 imposition of the martial law in Poland.

Holland is best known for her films Europa Europa (1991) and her 2011 drama In Darkness, which was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 84th Academy Awards.^[2] In 2017 she received Alfred Bauer Prize (Silver Bear) for her film Spoor at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Synopsis

Academy Award™ nominee Agnieszka Holland (EUROPA EUROPA, SPOOR, IN DARKNESS) brings to the screen the extraordinary untold story of Gareth Jones, an ambitious young Welsh journalist who travelled to the Soviet Union in 1933 and uncovered the appalling truth behind the Soviet “utopia” and Stalin’s regime. Initially a regular news investigation, Jones’ quest quickly turned into a life-or-death journey… his experiences helped inspire George Orwell’s famous allegory Animal Farm.

Biography

Marco Bellocchio was born in Piacenza, Italy, in 1939. In 1959, he suspended his studies in philosophy at the Catholic University in Milan to enrol at the Experimental Center for Cinematography in Rome. In 1961-62 he made the short films ABBASSO LO ZIO, LA COLPA E LA PENA and GINEPRO FATTO UOMO. He then transferred to London, where he attended the Slade School of Fine Arts. His feature-length debut, FISTS IN THE POCKET, was presented at Locarno in 1965 and attracted international attention. In 2011 he received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice International Film Festival. His 2015 feature BLOOD OF MY BLOOD won the FIPRESCI Award at Venice IFF. In 2016, he was in Cannes at the Director's Fortnight with SWEET DREAMS and back in 2018 with THE FIGHT.

Synopsis

In 1986 Cosa Nostra wise guy Tommaso Buscetta became a key witness in Italy’s first great Mafia trial, prosecuted by organized crime fighter Giovanni Falcone. Despite the possibility that his entire family might be killed (snitching was treason to the Mafia), prosecutor Falcone made the imprisoned Buscetta an offer he didn’t refuse. In his latest work, award-winning Italian filmmaker Marco Bellocchio focuses on the story of the first pentito, who helped bring 300 Mafia leaders to justice while uncovering ties to political circles. More than just a biopic, Bellocchio’s film recently represented Italy in competition at Cannes.

BIOGRAPHY

Born in Hamburg, Germany in 1973, he studied at the University of Fine Arts in Hamburg (HfBK). After making several short, documentary and feature films, he won the Golden Bear in 2004 for Gegen die Wand which made him one of the most celebrated directors in Europe. His next international hit, Auf der anderen Seite, won Best Screenplay at Cannes as well as the European and German Film awards. With his production company corazón international he also produces the work of other directors including the films Chiko, Takva and Min dît. His film Aus dem Nichts won, among other prizes, a Golden Globe.

Synopsis

Hamburg-St.Pauli in the 1970s: At first glance, Fritz «Fiete» Honka is a pitiful loser. The man with the broken face carouses through his nights in the neighborhood dive, the «Golden Glove», chasing after lonely women. None of the regulars suspect that the apparently harmless Fiete isactually a monster. Fatih Akin’s horror film THE GOLDEN GLOVE is based on a true story and the novel of the same name by Heinz Strunk. It tells the story of Fritz Honka, a man who murdered numerous women, and his favorite bar, the «Golden Glove», where schmaltzy German songs move the boozy bar hounds to tears and drinking is a reflex against pain and longing.

Synopsis

When a man flees France after the Nazi invasion, he assumes the identity of a dead author whose papers he possesses. Stuck in Marseilles, he meets a young woman desperate to find her missing husband – the very man he's impersonating.

Biography 

Christian Petzold was born in Hilden in 1960. After studying German and Drama at the Freie Universität Berlin, he enrolled in Berlin's German Academy for Film and Television (DFFB). There he studied film direction. His film Barbara (2012) won the 'Best Director' award at the Berlinale. This fine drama plunges the viewer into the everyday life atmosphere of the GDR.

Selected Filmography: 2018 Transit, 2014 Phoenix, 2012 Barbara, 2008 Jerichow, 2007 Yella, 2005 Gespenster, 2003 Wolfsburg, 2000 The State I Am In

Biography

Born in the Philippines in 1960, Brillante Mendoza is one of the leading authors in new Filipino cinema. After completing his studies at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, and beginning his career in the field of advertising, he made his debut in cinema, inaugurating an extremely prolific filmography and soon becoming a leading protagonist of international film festivals. His debut film THE MASSEUR (2005) won the video competition prize at the Festival of Locarno. His next film SUMMER HEAT (2006) was screened in the Extra section of the Rome Film Festival, and MANORO (2006) won the Cinema for Peace award at the Torino Film Festival. In 2007 he was in Cannes for the screening of FOSTER CHILD in the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs section, in 2008 for SERVICE and in 2009 with THE EXECUTION OF P, for which he won the award for Best Director. The Berlin Film Festival welcomed him in 2007 for SLINGSHOT, presented in the Forum section, and in 2012 for CAPTIVE. In 2015 he screened at Cannes IFF again with his film TAKLUB and again in 2016 with MA' ROSA, where it was nominated for the Palme d'Or.

Synopsis

Set against the backdrop of the Philippines Government's crackdown on illegal drugs, a SWAT-led police force launches an operation to arrest Abel, one of the biggest drug lords in Manila. Police Officer Espino and Elijah, a small-time pusher turned informant, provide the intelligence for the operation, which quickly escalates into a violent and heavily-armed confrontation in the slums between the SWAT and Abel's gang. Before the investigators arrive at the crime scene, Espino and Elijah walk off with Abel's backpack full of money and methamphetamine. This gesture of survival for one and corruption for the other will soon set off a dangerous series of events, both of them risking their reputations, families and lives in the process.

Biography 

Born in 1939 in Warsaw, Poland. Documentary and feature film director. Studied physics at Warsaw University and philosophy at Jagiellonian University in Cracow. Graduated from Lodz Film Academy in 1966. Amateur film maker. His school diploma film 'Death of a Provincial' (The Death of a Provincial (1968)) won an awards in Venice, Mannheim, Valladolid and Moscow in 1967. Other early films made for TV include: 'Next Door' (_Za sciana (1971)_), Grand Prix in San Remo; 'Hypothesis' (Hipoteza (1973)). 

Scriptwriter or co-writer of all of his TV and cinema films. Other early feature films: 'Structure of a Crystal' (The Structure of Crystal (1969)), which won in Mar del Plata 1970; 'Family Life' (Family Life (1971)), which won in Chicago 1971, Valladolid 1972 and Colombo 1973; 'Illumination' (The Illumination (1973)), Grand Prix in Locarno 1973, award in Gdansk 1974; 'Quarterly Balance' (A Woman's Decision (1975)); 'Camouflage' (Camouflage (1977)), Spiral (Spirala (1978)).

Synopsis

The beginning of the 20th century, borders of the Russian Tsar Imperium. A doctor gives a mortal amount of ether to a young woman whom he wants to seduce. He gets employed in an Austrian-Hungarian fortress where he continues his experiments with ether. Their aim is to lower pain but also to manipulate human behavior. The price of success is the loss of the soul but love can save the Doctor from eternal condemnation.

Synopsis

Interactive - this how it is called swimming with the dolphins. This method is widely used in children with autism. The film tells stories of children with such a disease and their relationship with the dolphins.

Biography

David Kemkhadze born in 1974 . In 2002 graduated from Batumi state university of Art, Zaza Kakhalvashi’s  studio as a film Director. 

 Filmography -  Zarzma (2018); The smell of the  Sea (2016); Bevreti (2013); Tango feorever (2012);     libertango  (2002)

Biography

In 1997 Irakli Solomanashvili graduated from Tbilisi State University of Theater and Cinema, Faculty of Dramatics. He is the author of more than twenty short and full-length feature and documentary screenplays. His work in the documentary "Children Behind Bars" was honored with the highest award of the American Television Academy EMMY.

In 2019, the Georgian National Film Center nominated for OSCAR the film "Shindisi", script of which was written by Irakli. 

The short film   REFUGEE is a debut for him as a feature film director.

Synopsis

The end of the war does not means peace. In a refugee settlement where all the houses are alike, a ten-year-old girl defends herself from violence by violence - taught by war.

The girl's father is distorted by war and exile both physically and morally as well. The girl is still unable to change her life for the better, but unlike her father, she has not lost the immunity to violence. Despite his immature behavior, she is still a victim - the "virus" of war affected her psychic too. And maybe the cruelty of adult people is similar immature "child's game", which we want to show in this film.

Biography

Irine Jordania Born in Tbilisi, Georgia. Graduated Tbilisi State University, where she pursued an International Relations and Law degree. Afterwards, completed The High Courses for Film Directors in The Rustaveli Theatre and Film State University of Tbilisi – Rezo Esadze’s Workshop. Has done internship at The Russian State University of Cinematography in Moscow – Marlen Khutsiev’s Workshop. Is working as an editor, journalist for various publications and works as a screenwriter for different film projects. 

“12 K. Marx Street” is her first independent project.

Synopsis

The Woman pours herself a cup of coffee and sits in the same place, at the same time, every day,  calling the same number on her phone. The silence is filled with a continuous dial tone. One day, her call is unexpectedly answered. 

Synopsis

Film tells the story of  film director Andrei Tarkovsky and artists of Soviet underground in 60-70s. They all belong to same generation. In real life they have not met but in film using unique editing approach the unusual things happen – Tarkovsky and artist are flying to Cosmos. 

Biography

Irakli Kvirikadze was born in 1939. In 1964 he raduated from the Journalism Department of I. Javakhishvili State University. In 1970 he graduated Moscow State Institute of Cinematography, Faculty of Film Directing (Gregory Chukhra's studio). Irakli’s films received numerous awards at  international film festivals  - Cannes, San Remo, Locarno, Grenoble, Sochi, Anapa, etc.

Irakli's diploma work is a TV short film "Pitcher" (1970). The film "City of Ana" (1976) won the FIPRESCI prize at the prestigious Locarno Film Festival, while the film "Swimmer" was awarded the Grand Prix at the San Remo Film Festival (1981). Irakli is also the screenwriter for many films - "Robinson Crusoe, or My English Grandfather", "1001 Recipes of the Culinary Lover" and more.

Irakli currently works in the US, Europe and Russia.

Biography

Vakhtang Kuntsev-Gabashvili, assoc. Prof. at the University of Georgia, founder of the Studio “Akrobat”.
His diploma work “The morning romance” at the first time was presented for Student Oscar in Los Angeles. This film has 3 main prizes and 11 awards on international film festivals. He was study in Munich film high school (Prof. Wim Wenders). Vakhtang twice has DAAD scholarship.
Since 1997 he is a technical coordinator of the Film fest Munich.
He is an author of 7 full length documentary’s. His Documentary film “Life is Be” in 2016 has won a main prize “Best Georgian Documentary” (“Tbilisi International Film Festival “Prometheus”).
His last film “Transparent world” has won 6 Grand-Prix and it was the opening film of the 3 International Film festivals. 

From 2003-2012 – he was a Teacher at five Georgian University’s, specialization “cinema sound and music”. Since 2012 – PhD, Doctor of Arts. 

Synopsis

There are five main characters in the film and each of them has own history.  They live in Telavi in neighborhood to each other. One of them is German; he plays the piano at the Charity House. He is a former fireman. He has saved Tsinandali Museum from burning. It is already 20 years that electricity supply was cut for another German man. He invented a stove, which produces electricity. The third character is the 80-year old former communications office director. His house is a historical monument protected by the government. But the house is in poor condition. The fourth character is a former engineer, former lecturer of Telavi University but now he only stays at home and listens to rock music and complains about this life. The fifth character is a successful farmer, businessman. He needs some additional force to assist him but he can't find anybody. Nobody wants to work.

BIography

Vakhtang Kuntsev-Gabashvili, assoc. Prof. at the University of Georgia, founder of the Studio “Akrobat”.
His diploma work “The morning romance” at the first time was presented for Student Oscar in Los Angeles. This film has 3 main prizes and 11 awards on international film festivals. He was study in Munich film high school (Prof. Wim Wenders). Vakhtang twice has DAAD scholarship.
Since 1997 he is a technical coordinator of the Film fest Munich.
He is an author of 7 full length documentary’s. His Documentary film “Life is Be” in 2016 has won a main prize “Best Georgian Documentary” (“Tbilisi International Film Festival “Prometheus”).
His last film “Transparent world” has won 6 Grand-Prix and it was the opening film of the 3 International Film festivals. 

From 2003-2012 – he was a Teacher at five Georgian University’s, specialization “cinema sound and music”. Since 2012 – PhD, Doctor of Arts. 

Synopsis

Beka is 26 years old... His father taught him his profession. Beka makes art photography and a film about a physicist and composer. He had his first photo exhibition recently. Father's patience and understanding helped him to introduce his son to adult life and make him believe in his own talent.  

This film is not just another short documentary about the professional lives of exemplary Soviet citizens.  What makes it exceptional is its refusal to evoke working class power through low angle shots, close ups of sweating skin or an emotional musical score. Instead, the film is an intimate, almost silent depiction of the working atmosphere of Tbilisi’s night shift bread makers, with minimal use of either wild sound or dialogue.

Shot on location at the Rustavi Metallurgical Plant, this film is dedicated to blast-furnace operators, who work hard to earn their living. Tuji does not show the proletariat as being happy to work, or as full of energetic working-class enthusiasm. From a contrapuntal relationship between image and sound emerges a complex picture of the Soviet worker, one that is contrary to the picture that had been established by the official Soviet ideology. Operators are not superheroes loaded with optimism and faith in their bright future; the flames of the furnaces look more like Dante’s Inferno than a Soviet paradise. 

In a completely abandoned village in the mountains of Georgia, people’s voices are heard: voices of laughter, mourning, feasting, fighting, and dancing, along with prayers and sex. Only voices make the people’s presence visible. In this 1981 film, nothing but a half-torn-up map of the Georgian SSR hanging outside of the school signifies that the action is taking place in the Soviet Union, an officially atheist country where the notion of sex is never discussed publicly. 

This short film presents the works of the Georgian painter Niko Pirosmani (1862-1918) without following the conventions of many comparable profiles of the 1980s. By avoiding the aesthetic and ideological clichés established in many Soviet documentaries that focused on the life and work of famous artists, Parajanov smoothly leads his viewers into the colorful world of a great master.

Synopsis

Three longtime friends accidentally meet each other. A Newly released from prison, also an unlucky criminal, a street painter and an adventurist womanizer who is also an actor. What do they have in common? Only memories of the past and the fact that none of their life is well arranged. Luckless and handsome nearly aged left alone decide to step into their final adventure. They hit the road on which a lot of unexpected assemblies, sorrow, and joy are brought to them.

Biography

Nino Zhvania was born on April 18, 1982 in Tbilisi, Georgia. Graduated from the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography (Film Director Faculty) (S. Solovyov studio).

Selected Filmography: 2007 Asatiani (short documentary), 2011 Excuse Me, My friend (short), 2012 My Friend Iliko (short), 2018 Parade

BIOGRAPHY

Eldar Shengelaya  was born in 1933, Tbilisi, Georgia. A Georgian film director and scriptwriter, People’s Artist of Georgia (1979) and of the Soviet Union (1988). He graduated from the Directing Department of the All-Union State Cinematography Institute in Moscow (VGIK, master class of S. Yutkevitch, S. Skvortsova), in 1958. Worked at Mosfilm Studio, starting from 1960 was a director at Georgia Film Studio. Ran a Directing Master Class at the Tbilisi Theatre Institute after Rustaveli (1975-1980). He was the First Secretary of Filmmakers’ Union of Georgia (1979 - 1990), since 1990 - the Chairman of the same Union. In 1992, he was elected a member of the Parliament of Georgia. A member of the Jury at Venice IFF in 1986 and at Berlin IFF in 1992.

Synopsis

Martia, an experienced shepherd together with others is moving his herd to the winter pastures. The life of the shepherds is mundane and complex to the extent that even a minor mistake is fraught with serious consequences. Martia’s older son forsakes the herd for good and moves to the city in quest of easy money. In his attempt to save the herd scattered by the storm, Martia dies. Martia’s son, who returns home from the city blames himself for the accident and is profoundly repentant.

The White Caravan was screened at  Cannes Film Festival 1964. In April 2019, a restored version of the film was selected to be shown in the Cannes Classics section at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.