Georgia selected as anniversary focus country for Trento Film Festival

Georgian cinema will be in focus at the upcoming Trento Film Festival, the oldest international festival dedicated to mountains, adventure and exploration, as the event opens its doors in Italy's north this spring.

For the 68th edition of the festival held in the historical city of Trento, which boasts medieval monuments and frescoes as part of its heritage, Georgia has been picked as the focus country of the Destination section.

While the programme of the Georgian showcase - and the wider festival - will be revealed in February, organisers announced their selection of the country for their focus screenings in advance.

The festival section has decided to stop in a small but fascinating country, straddling Europe and Asia, a crossroads of cultures and depository of millenary traditions that make it an object of interest today for scholars of all fields of knowledge and, increasingly, for world tourism" - Trento Film Festival

Filmmaker Emily Railsback’s documentary Our Blood Is Wine will be screened as part of the Georgian focus programme in Trento:

Citing Georgia's highland sights as well as its long-standing winemaking culture and cinema legacy, the festival team explained their selection and noted it was the "perfect host country to celebrate the tenth anniversary [of the section]".

[Georgia] stands out both for the vitality of cinematography, also admired by masters like Federico Fellini, and for the impetus to modernity pursued without renouncing the peculiar and profound cultural, religious and food and wine traditions" - Trento Film Festival

Used as a vehicle for introducing mountainous locations across the world, the section will be organised within the festival for the tenth time with its Georgian showcase. Previous editions have explored adventurous riches of countries from Mexico to Morocco and Iceland.

Several events at the festival will centre around the focus country and its cultural heritage, with a screening of American director Emily Railsback’s documentary Our Blood Is Wine, exploring this major element of Georgian cultural life, being one of the films to be screened.

This year's Trento Film Festival will run between April 27-May 5.