Georgian filmmaker claims production prize for Chechnya war documentary

An unfinished documentary project by Georgian filmmaker Alexander Kvatashidze has won the top prize at the Italian co-production forum, beating out other cinema works from more than a dozen countries and hundreds of industry professionals.

The award-winning co-production between Georgia, Estonia, France and Germany, titled See You in Chechnya was awarded the HBO Europe prize of the ‘When East Meets West’ forum.

The ‘When East Meets West’ forum included 22 projects from 19 countries. The documentary is currently in the post-production phase.

The prize was awarded to Kvatashidze’s work within the Last Stop Trieste documentary co-production section.

A still from director Alexander Kvatashidze’s documentary production See You in Chechnya. Photo: Docudays UA.

The prize included €1,000 and recognition as the best documentary work in progress.

It was awarded by an international jury, consisting of HBO producer Hanka Kastelicova, film sales agent Catherine Le Clef, International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film director Leena Pasanen and German public broadcaster MDR head of Culture and Science Program Claudia Schreiner.

See You in Chechnya was described by its director as a project about people’s lives affected by the notorious 1990s conflict in North Caucasus, which he witnessed first-hand at the age of 22.

See You in Chechnya is a personal film about the intertwined stories of a group of war reporters. It's a film about how the experiences of those who survived continue to affect their lives today, about what war did to them,” said Kvatashidze about his work.

The film has picked up several other co-production prizes including the Open Doors Production and the ARTE Open Doors awards at the 2013 Locarno International Film Festival in Switzerland.

This year’s Last Stop Trieste section shortlist featured seven documentary works from Georgia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Spain, Brazil and Italy that could debut in spring or summer of this year.

The event ran from January 24-26 in Trieste, Italy.