Tbilisi International Film Festival opens on November 30

The 2015 edition of the Tbilisi International Film Festival opens next Monday. Photo/Festival website.
Agenda.ge, 20 Nov 2015 - 14:35, Tbilisi,Georgia

More than a hundred films from all corners of the world will be in focus of the 16th annual Tbilisi International Film Festival.

The highly anticipated film festival will open next Monday, November 30, with a screening of Georgia’s Oscar awards candidate Moira.

Director Levan Tutberidze’s acclaimed film will kick-start the week-long celebration of filmmaking creativity from Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Australia and North and South America. During the seven day film festival dozens of countries will present 119 productions at cinemas in capital Tbilisi.

The event’s program was split by organisers into 12 themed categories to highlight various regions and perspectives. This year’s Country in Focus section featured seven films from Switzerland.

As well as featuring Switzerland, the Festival’s other national sections will present productions from Germany, France and Georgia. A spotlight will also be on films through women’s perspectives and issues in the WomenEyes category.

Georgian director Lasha Tskvitinidze’s debut film I’m Beso won the national competition at the 2014 Tbilisi International Film Festival. Photo/Festival website.

Cinema for Social Change will aim to draw the audience’s attention to systemic issues of the world, and Georgian director Dito Tsintsadze’s award-winning God of Happiness will round off the week-long occasion on December 6.

Hosted by the Rustaveli and Amirani cinema theatres in capital Tbilisi, the annual celebration will also involve lectures and discussions on cinema.

The Golden Prometheus – the main prize of the 2014 Festival edition – was awarded to Ukrainian film The Tribe, directed by Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy.

Since the film festival’s establishment in 2000, the event has hosted more than 700 directors, producers, actors and other industry figures over its subsequent editions.

Festival organisers said the annual cinema event aimed to "introduce the Georgian public [to] new works of high artistic value made in Georgia proper and worldwide”.

The partners of the Festival were the Tbilisi Goethe Institute, and co-founders of the Berlin International Film Festival Erika and Ulrich Gregors. Last year’s film festival jury included cinema critic and historian Marco Müller and director Peter Webber.

The full program of the 16th Tbilisi International Film Festival can be viewed on the official website here.