Oscar-shortlisted Tangerines will screen in European Parliament and UN

A Georgian-directed war-time drama that was shortlisted for an Oscar earlier this year will soon be shown in European Parliament and at the United Nations (UN) headquarters.

The Georgian National Film Centre announced that the Estonian-Georgian co-production Tangerines [Mandarinebi], directed by local man Zaza Urushadze, will be screened in European Parliament on June 29. The film was chosen because it represented humanity and peace in times of war.  

Two months later audiences will see the Oscar shortlisted film on the big screen at the UN headquarters in New York.

A lot of assessments have been made about the film. One of those highlighted that Tangerines could do more than politicians did in terms of peace keeping," said the film's director. 

"The humanistic message of the film is very important for me as director. Besides the international success of the movie, this peaceful message is probably the reason why the European Parliament and the UN chose this movie,” Urushadze said.

Meanwhile, the Estonian-Georgian co-production was among the top 10 films seen by Greek moviegoers in June. The war-time drama ranked 6th place behind widely promoted Hollywood films.

In the near future Tangerines will be released in cinemas in France, Turkey, Latin America, United Kingdom, Italy and Australia.

The movie was nominated for an Oscar in the best foreign language film category in this year’s Academy Awards.

The film centres around an older Estonian man who cares for two wounded soldiers from opposite sides of the 1990-era war in Georgia.

Since its release the film has won awards at the Warsaw, Mannheim-Heidelberg, Palm Springs and Seattle film festivals and many other international film festivals.