Georgia in focus at Swiss film festival

Georgia will be at the heart of the prestigious documentary film festival, Visions du Réel 2015.

Georgia, a little-known filmmaking nation, will feature in the Focus section of the festival, held from April 19 to 22 in Nyon, Switzerland.

Festival guests will have the possibility to discover contemporary Georgian documentary cinematographic landscape through six projects and 15 films, which will feature in the 2015 Focus.

Festival organisers said the aim of the Focus section was to "shed light on contemporary film production and stimulate international collaboration with Georgia”.

"Georgia has always offered very high-quality film. You only need to think of all the great filmmakers that have come from this country – such as Otar Iosseliani, Michail Ciaureli, Eldar and Giorgi Shengelaia, Tenghiz Abuladze – to be convinced of this," said director of Visions du Reel Luciano Baritone.

"At the moment, this country has many highly talented directors and producers, particularly in the documentary field. For Visions du Réel, the choice to highlight Georgia is a manner of supporting this creative impetus,” Barisone said.

At the festival newcomer filmmakers will get the chance to personally present their projects alongside screening of their films.

Representatives of the Nyon film festival will have already chosen six Georgian projects, from which one will be awarded the title of winner and receive a prize of 10 000 Swiss Franc ($10,437 USD) by ‘visions sud est’ for Most Promising Project.

Selected projects – Focus Georgia 2015

• City of the Sun, by Rati Oneli
• Didube, The Last Stop, by Shorena Tevzadze
• Love Song. Pastorale, by Tinatin Gurchiani
• Tariela, Tariela, by Giorgi Mrevlishvili
• The Pioneers' Palace, by Ana Tsimintia
• The Station, by Salome Jashi

At the final part of the festival, a Georgian evening will be held where Georgian culture will be showcased from all angles.

The Focus section of the Visions du Réel is supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the ‘visions sud est’ fund and the Georgian National Film Centre.