Four Georgian filmmakers feature at Cannes Film Festival

Georgian cinema will present its many facets at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival.

Georgian productions, filmmakers and the country's cash rebate program will all feature at the famous event, held annually in France.

The celebrated festival will begin on May 11 and over the course of 11 days, nearly 100 feature, short and documentary works by directors from around the world will be screened.

The festival will also host a number of co-production platforms and meeting programs to allow filmmakers and producers to find global partners for their ongoing or future projects.

Three Georgian creators will be represented in such programs at this year's festival, while another filmmaker will take part in a parallel festival ‘Directors' Fortnight’, running alongside the main Cannes event.

Georgian filmmaker Dea Kulumbegashvili's film 'Invisible Spaces' was the first Georgian cinema work to be selected for the Cannes Film Festival in 2014. Photo by Boriana Pandova/Sofia Meetings.

The 48th annual ‘Directors’ Fortnight’ event will include the premiere of director Dea Kulumbegashvili's new short film Lethe.

The work was selected among 11 short films to screen at the festival. ‘Directors’ Fortnight’ was established by the French Directors' Guild in 1969 after a nationwide protest in 1968 by students and workers in France resulted in the disruption of that year's Cannes Film Festival.

Kulumbegashvili made history in 2014 when her film Invisible Spaces became the first Georgian cinema work to be selected for the Cannes Film Festival.

At the main Cannes event, filmmaker Tinatin Kajrishvili will appear in the Cinemas du Monde co-production platform to meet potential partners for her in-production feature work Citizen Saint.

The film was selected by festival staff alongside nine other projects from Africa, South America, the Middle East and Asia.

The Cannes Film Festival will involve a number of co-production and networking platforms for film directors and producers. Photo from the Festival/Facebook.

The Cannes Festival's networking platform ‘Producers on the Move’ will involve Nino Devdariani and other emerging film producers from Denmark, Sweden, Germany and the United Kingdom.

Organisers say the May 14-17 platform will bring together some of the "most energetic, emerging producers from across Europe" to find partners for their cinema projects.

Furthermore, the French Festival will host the cinema script development program ‘ScripTeast’, where director Rusudan Chkonia will be represented with her in-the-works project Venice.

The project was selected for last year's Cinema du Monde platform and will be presented to industry figures at this year's ScripTeast program.

As well as inviting authors of new and in-production Georgian films, the Cannes Film Festival will also host a stall for the Georgian National Film Centre (GNFC) at the Village International Riviera. This will be the ninth time the GNFC has appeared at the film event and served to inform visitors about Georgia’s potential in the film industry.

As a centrepiece of its presentations, the GNFC will host the European unveiling of Georgia's cash rebate program Film in Georgia, scheduled to take place on May 15 at the Harbour of Cannes.

The Film in Georiga initiative offers a range of benefits including a cash rebate of up to 25% of filming expenses for film makers who produce their films in Georgia.

Meanwhile last month the Film in Georgia scheme was presented to United States industry experts and companies.

This year's Cannes Film Festival will end on May 22.