Filmmaker Nana Jorjadze’s winemaking documentary triumphs at Hollywood fest

A Georgian film about the country and its winemaking culture has triumphed at a Hollywood festival of documentary films, taking five awards at the American event on Sunday.

Directed by celebrated Georgian filmmaker Nana Jorjadze, the documentary Prime Meridian of Wine became the revelation of the Hollywood International Independent Documentary Awards festival.

Jorjadze’s work collected prizes including that of Best Director and Best Cinematography at the monthly festival’s February edition. The event awarded 18 prizes to screened international films.

See the trailer for Nana Jorjadze’s documentary ‘Prime Meridian of Wine’ below:

The prizes awarded to Prime Meridian of Wine were:

• Best Director — Nana Jorjadze
• Best Writer — Tamar Bartaia
• Best Producer — Shalva Khetsuriani
• Best Cinematography — Mikheil Kvirikadze
• Best Talent on Camera — Revaz Khetsuriani

Georgian Sommelier Association chairman and film producer Shalva Khetsuriani said the documentary was created as a collection of "personal stories” acquainting viewers with Georgia and its wine culture.

We did not want to make it [simply] a chronological documentary on Georgian winemaking ... which is why we asked Ms. Jorjadze to get involved. Her work transformed the project into a colourful narrative”.

We imagined we would be doing the work for an audience that had no previous knowledge of Georgia as country ... and used wine as a universal language to convey stories about it”, Khetsuriani told Rustavi 2 channel program Good Morning Georgia earlier today.

The Hollywood International Independent Documentary Awards is a monthly festival for documentary works. Photo: Festival.

The film project was supported by family winery Marani Khetsuriani and National Wine Agency of the Ministry of Agriculture of Georgia.

The work had already received awards at various international festivals before its triumph in Hollywood.

The prizes included Best International Film at the 2016 Wine and Cava International Film Festival in Barcelona, Spain and Special Jury Prize at the 2016 Oenovideo International Grape and Wine Film Festival in Paris, France.

Jorjadze’s documentary is expected to premiere in Georgia in October.

The esteemed Georgian filmmaker has directed over a dozen films since her debut in 1979. She was awarded the Best First Feature Prize at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival for her 1986 comedy Robinsonada or My English Grandfather.