Nino Orjonikidze, Vano Arsenishvili awarded MakeDox festival prize for 'A Tunnel'

Film directors Nino Orjonikidze and Vano Arsenishvili have earned their latest acclaim for their documentary work A Tunnel after juries of the MakeDox Creative Documentary Film Festival picked the film for honours on Wednesday.

The two filmmakers received the plaudits as the North Macedonian event came to a close on Wednesday and judges selected their favourites. A Tunnel was selected for the Best Film by First or Second-Time Director prize at the 11th edition of the festival.

Screening in the Newcomers section at MakeDox, the feature brought to viewers the two creatives' look at a rapid transformation of a sleepy village in Georgia as it becomes a transit location for China's major Belt and Road Initiative.

The infrastructural project brings in workers and heavy machinery for digging a tunnel through a mountain, causing uncertainty among locals who use the site for pastures and also have houses nearby.

There are promises of prosperity and progress, but in the dreamy atmosphere of the fairy-tale village, the coming of the express train feels more like a nightmare" - International Documentary Filmfestival Amsterdam summary for the film

The North Macedonian prize follows the principal prize of the Montenegrin-based UnderhillFest documentary festival, awarded to the feature in June.

A Tunnel was premiered by the International Documentary Filmfestival Amsterdam in 2019 before the work also screened at the BRIDGES. East of West Film Days festival at Brussels' BOZAR Centre of Fine Arts earlier this year.

The film is a Georgian-German co-production and was supported by European and Asian cinema development grants.

The MakeDox festival ran between August 19-26.