REVIEW 2018

The festival opening live act was Young Georgian Lolitaz, “one of the most distinctive and contemporary representatives of Georgian culture” (esckaz.com). The Georgian indie rock band became internationally famous for representing Georgia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 in Stockholm where they performed the song “Midnight Gold”. They are the first all-male band to represent Georgia in the contest and reached the final round.

All Informations about the film concert with the soviet-georgian silent movie CHEMI BEBIA (MY GRANDMOTHER) with concert pianist and cultural attaché of the Georgian Embassy Dudana Mazmanishvili you can find here.

Georgia has a rich film tradition, with the Grusia-Film-Studios in the capital Tbilisi having a considerable share during the USSR era. In recent years, Georgian feature films are gaining international recognition in the film festival circuit again.

Our selection focuses on current long feature films and short films. Additionally, however, we wish to convey at least a brief insight into Georgian film history. This is represented by two Soviet silent film masterpieces: the avantgarde satire CHEMI BEBIA by Kote Mikaberidze (accompanied live on grand piano by Dudana Mazmanishvili), banned in the year of its première 1929, and the expressive portrait of a people living an isolated life in the Caucasus mountains in DZIM SVANTE by Michail Kalatasow from 1930. PIROSMANI by Giorgi Schengelaia about the legendary Georgian painter Nikola Pirosmani from 1969 is also a cinematic pleasure to (re)discover.

More informations about the Focus Georgia are available here.

Impressions from the short film night can you finde here.

The programm about the Focus BALTIC SEA you can find here.

Informations about the special events can you find here.

Click here to get to the photo galleries 2018.