The cinematic work of filmmakers from 22 countries around the globe is coming to Georgia for one of the country’s top film festivals.
Whether it’s a documentary, narrative or fictional love story – all film enthusiasts have the possibility to enjoy watching films from almost two dozen countries at the ninth annual International Batumi Art-House Film Festival (BIAFF).
Contemporary works of French, Italian, Great Britain, Belgian, Irish and Turkish filmmakers will be showcased at the festival, which will be held at the Apollo Cinema in Batumi from September 14, with the closing ceremony held at The Puppet Theatre on September 21.
About 40 full-length feature films and documentaries will be screened at this year’s festival, as will about 40 short films.
The festival opened yesterday with the screening of a film created by Georgian-born Armenian Sergei Parajanov, titled The Legend of the Surami Fortress. Parajanov has been described by some as one of the 20th Century’s greatest masters of cinema.
For the first time the film festival has aligned itself with a local charity – the Dito Tsintsadze Charity Fund - which honoured Dito Tsintsadze who was diagnosed with Leukaemia about a year ago. Organisers said many charity events had been planned for the festival and funds raised would be donated to charity.
Meanwhile, the film screenings at the BIAFF will be separated into feature films, documentaries and short films sections. The European Film Academy (EFA) collection of short films also will be screened at the event.
"In addition to the traditional screenings, we will continue to have open air film showings at Era Square,” said BIAFF manager Zviad Eliziani.
"This event will also continue to provide a platform for industrial meetings between Georgian film producers and investors. We also have master classes for free,” he said.
Towards the end of the festival, an international judging committee will announce the winning films of nine categories.
The festival was founded in 2006 and was annually organised by Batumi House of Art Argani in conjunction with Batumi City Hall.