Rati Tsiteladze to premiere latest film at Tampere Film Festival

One of Europe’s prominent short film festivals, set to open in the Finnish town of Tampere next week, will premiere director Rati Tsiteladze’s new work that deals with personal freedom clashing with cultural prejudices.

Tsiteladze’s documentary Prisoner of Society will debut in the international competition of the long-standing cinema event, where around 500 works are expected to be screened.

Prisoner of Society is an intimate journey into the world and mind of a young transgender woman trapped between personal desire for freedom and traditional expectations of her parents [...]”, says a summary of the short for the festival.

The preview of its setting and characters also said the documentary was centred around the family of the protagonist, with "hidden fears, hopes and motives” of its members.

A co-production effort between Georgia and Latvia, the short will screen to around 30,000 visitors expected to attend next week’s festival.

Tsiteladze, who was selected for this year’s Berlinale Talents summit of the Berlin International Film Festival along with screenwriter Nino Varsimashvili, co-wrote the screenplay for the film with the latter.

The collaboration marks the continuation of their joint efforts that has produced the 2016 work Mother and includes the work-in-progress project The Empty House.

Established in 1969, the Tampere Film Festival is northern Europe’s oldest-running short cinema event. This year’s edition will run between March 7-11.