Award-winning director Zaza Urushadze embraces new film project

Award-winning Georgian film director Zaza Urushadze is working on a new project following the international success of his 2013 feature film Tangerines.

Film review website Screen Daily revealed Urushadze – the director of Georgia's 2015 Academy Award bid for Best Foreign Language Film – was currently working on another feature film titled The Monk.

The Georgia-Estonia co-production boasts a budget of €700,000 (about $780,000 USD/1.8 million GEL*) and is currently in production.

Urushadze said the film was about a Georgian monk who travelled to serve in a remote village, where his plans are upset when he encounters a beautiful local woman "with a secret".

Urushadze and Estonian producer Ivo Felt are partnering for the new film after having worked together on 'Tangerines'. Photo from Frazer Harrison/Getty Images North America.

The film's cast will include Georgian actors Dimitri Tatishvili and Sophia Sebiskveradze, while the feature will be produced by Estonia's Ivo Felt, who also worked alongside Urushadze as producer of Tangerines.

Urushadze told the cinema news website his new work would be different from the 2013 feature, which was named Best European Film at the 8th Gaudi Awards in Spain in January.

It will be lighter and maybe even more sensitive [...] the aesthetics will be not similar to Tangerines at all," the Urushadze told reporters.

The production stage for The Monk is expected to finish in late autumn, while its premiere is planned for early next year.

* Currencies are equivalent with today’s National Bank of Georgia exchange rate.