Russia’s creeping occupation in focus of prize-winning Georgian documentary

A documentary film by Georgian director Toma Chagelishvili, shot at a Georgian village at the centre of Russia’s creeping occupation, was awarded with a special prize by the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA).

Little Berlin Wall is still in the editing process but the movie has already been invited to participate in the world recognised Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival Market.

Chagelishvili received this great news at the Sarajevo International Film Festival where he took part in the documentary workshop section DOCU Rough Cut Boutique.

Director Toma Chagelishvili spent several months at the village to film inhabitant's daily life. Photo from T-Studio Facebook page.

Little Berlin Wall, filmed by Georgia’s T-studio last year, showed the daily life of neighbours in Khurvaleti village, which is affected by Russia’s creeping occupation.

One of the families was separated from the others by barbed wire fences installed by Russian border guards. The cemetery of the village now lay on the other side of the barbed wired fence. How people live and survive while being divided by the so-called ‘border’ was the film’s main focus.

The documentary was also invited to other international festivals and film critics forecast a lucky festival destiny for the Little Berlin Wall.

Read more about the reality of Georgian citizens who went to bed in Georgia and woke up in so-called South Ossetia one perfect morning in Agenda.ge journalist Lali Tsertvadze's article Easter behind barbed wire.