Rati Tsiteladze takes NDU Film Fest award with documentary

Georgian filmmaker Rati Tsiteladze has added another prize to international honours awarded to his new documentary Prisoner of Society, after the short film on a transgender woman in Georgia was singled out at the NDU International Film Festival in Lebanon.

Closing on Sunday, the festival handed out its prizes in three sections, one of which was an international category featuring Tsiteladze’s work.

Competing among 24 films in the International Shorts Selection, Prisoner of Society claimed the Best International Documentary Film award.

The distinction follows the Best Documentary prize awarded to the short at the Tampere Film Festival earlier this year, along with a nomination for an upcoming European Film Academy prize.

Tsiteladze’s documentary delves into social and family rejection experienced by a transgender woman in Georgia, exposing “hidden fears, hopes and motives” of her family members within a conservative society.

Prisoner of Society is an intimate journey into the world and mind of a young transgender woman, locked away from the outside world for the past decade, trapped between her personal desire for freedom and traditional expectations of her parents that threaten their unity”, said a summary for the work by creators.

Tsiteladze, known for his award-winning 2016 short Deda (Mother), directed the latest work on script by Nino Varsimashvili, who also worked on the screenplay for the former.

The work also received awards and mentions at cinema events including Odense International Film Festival and Leeds International Film Festival.

The Lebanese festival, taking its name from the Notre Dame University-Louaize, screened around 80 local and international films between November 26-December 2.