Cannes Film Festival featuring Georgian filmmakers, producers

Georgian filmmakers and industry professionals will receive prizes and seek collaborations at the Cannes Film Festival, a major cinema highlight of the year, opening today.

Producers, directors and promoters from the country will be present in festival sections or at the Georgian stand in the pavilion on the French riviera.

In the main competition section, the Georgian representation will come from the Tbilisi-based 20 Steps Productions studio, through French filmmaker Eva Husson’s Girls of the Sun.

Producer Lasha Khalvashi (l) will be awarded for his work in Cannes. Photo: Scary Mother film Facebook page.

The French-Georgian-Belgian-Swiss co-production will bring a story of Kurdish female freedom fighters in their quest to take back their town after it was taken over by extremist forces.

The drama was filmed at locations in Georgia and France during the autumn of 2017 and features a cast led by Asia Pacific Screen Awards-nominated Iranian actor Golshifteh Farahani.

Producer Lasha Khalvashi (Scary Mother, Brides) will be among the professionals honoured at the French event for their work in the field.

Khalvashi was picked among Variety magazine’s 10 Producers to Watch for 2018 last month, in recognition of his recent production work.

Cannes Festival residency-winning director Rati Tsiteladze will be in contention for the best screenplay for projects from central and eastern Europe, with his work-in-progress film The Empty House.

 

[ENG BELOW] . Affiche officielle #Cannes2018 . L’affiche du Festival de Cannes 2018… c’est une femme et un homme qui s’embrassent. . Maquette: Flore Maquin / Photo: Anna Karina et Jean-Paul Belmondo dans Pierrot le fou Georges Pierre . [ENG] . Official Poster #Cannes2018 . The poster for the Festival de Cannes 2018... features a woman and a man engaged in a passionate kiss. . Design: Flore Maquin / Photo: Anna Karina and Jean-Paul Belmondo in Pierrot le fou Georges Pierre . . . #cannes2018 #cannes71 #festivaldecannes #officialposter #annakarina #jeanpaulbelmond #pierrotlefou #georgespierre #cinemafrancais #frenchcinema #nouvellevague #movie #cinema

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Another filmmaker with in-production project, the APSA- and Cannes Film Meetings Grand Prix-winning Mariam Khatchvani, is set to work on developing her new feature Nene in the Cinefondation Residency program of the festival.

Over in the literary section, award-winning author Aka Morchiladze will become the first Georgian writer to have their work pitched with a prospect of film adaptation.

Organised by the Civil Society of French Language Editors (SCELF) since 2014, the Shoot the Book! section will introduce industry figures to Obole, Morchiladze’s 2011 novel.

The work narrates the story of a Georgian playwright who finds himself immersed in memories from the past upon his return to an old house in the countryside for the first time in many years.

In addition to competition and award sections, eight producers from the country will be supported by the Georgian National Film Centre to seek financing and co-production opportunities at the event.

Representatives from the GNFC and other film agencies will round off the Georgian participation at the cinema celebration on Mediterranean seaside.

The Cannes Film Festival will run between May 8-19.