Georgian film 'Invisible Spaces' wins Best International Short Film award in Rome

A Georgian film has gained success at an international film festival in Rome, where movies from more than 40 countries fought for top awards.

Invisible Spaces [Ukhilavi Sivrtseebi] directed by Georgian woman Dea Kulumbegashvili, won the Best International Short Film award at the Rome Independent Film Festival, held in Italy on May 7-15.

Invisible Spaces gives a close glimpse into the world where family hierarchy, religion and the place of women are uncontested.

The story lifts the mask on a traditional Georgian family. It shows the barriers in which a priest husband holds his exasperated wife captive, which create the ‘invisible space’.

It is only when the wife lets out her frustration on their innocent daughter that she realises the vainness of her troubles in the face of patriarchy and entrapment.

The film was nominated as the best short film at the Cannes Film Festival in 2014. The same year Invisible Spaces was nominated at for the Best Short Film prize at the Les Arcs European Film Festival and the Uppsala International Short Film Festival. It was also nominated for the Uppsala Award in Memory of Ingmar Bergman, a Swedish film industry icon.