Young filmmaker Ana Urushadze’s ‘Scary Mother’ wins 1st feature award at Locarno Festival

The Locarno International Film Festival, one of the highlights of the European cinema season, has awarded screen emerging filmmaker Ana Urushadze's debut film Scary Mother with the First Feature Award.

Featuring script by the emerging director, the film follows Georgian housewife Manana, who finally takes up her dream of writing, years after initially shelving the idea in favour of taking care of household work.

As the protagonist of the story begins reading her first published book to family members, she realises her fears of negative reception from relatives are becoming a reality.

The cast for Scary Mother involves Georgian actors Nato Murvanidze, Dimitri Tatishvili, Rama Ioseliani and Avto Makharadze, with Mindia Esadze contributing as director of photography.

The film is co-produced by Georgian and Estonian studios, with producers Lasha Khalvashi, Tinatin Kajrishvili and Ivo Felt involved in the effort.

Scary Mother received financial support via a grant from the Georgian National Film Centre at its production stage.

Started on August 2, the 10-day festival, hosted in southern Swiss city Locarno, has run through August 12. The full program of the event can be viewed on the official website of the festival.