Georgian filmmakers Salome Jashi, Nino Gogua shine at European festival

Two new films by Georgian directors are being shown at the largest festival of creative documentary films in Central and Eastern Europe this week. 

The Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival, launched in the picturesque city in the Czech Republic on Tuesday, is celebrating its 20th edition this year with a six-day program of screenings, discussions and industry meetings.

Held at various locations in Jihlava city, the festival aimed to "approach documentary films primarily as unique artworks dealing with significant topics", its organisers said.

See the trailer for Salome Jashi's award-winning documentary 'The Dazzling Light of Sunset' below:

Among dozens of submissions by international filmmakers, the film festival will screen two films by Georgian directors Salome Jashi and Nino Gogua.

Later today the Dukla Reform cinema theatre will invite festival audience to see Jashi's award-winning documentary The Dazzling Light of Sunset.

The film has already collected major prizes this year at three international festivals. It was singled out for awards at the Nyon International Film Festival in Switzerland, the Valdivia International Film Festival in Chile and the Astra Film Festival in Romania.

The documentary turned the lens on a small Georgian community in village Tsalenjikha and featured an array of colourful characters, places and happenings in the town.

See a teaser for up-and-coming director Nino Gogua's feature documentary 'The Things' below:

Tomorrow the Czech festival will premiere the feature-length documentary The Things by up-and-coming filmmaker Nino Gogua.

The film followed residents of the central Georgian town Khurvaleti, set up to house internally displaced persons (IDPs) that fled the 2008 war between Russia and Georgia.

In this meditative documentary, real relics of their past lives, everyday things brought from their original homes, are the most tangible manifestations of the irreversibility of time as measured by losses," said the Czech festival's preview about the subjects of the film.

The Things was first presented while still in production stage at the 2015 Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival's 'Docu Talents from the East' section, that "introduced the most remarkable creative documentary projects from Central and Eastern Europe".

Gogua graduated from the Tbilisi State University with a degree in TV and radio journalism. She has already featured at important international events, with her previous documentary Madonna screened at the 2015 Nyon International Film Festival.

A scene from Nino Gogua's documentary 'The Things'. Photo from Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival.

At the Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival, the two films by Gogua and Jashi were selected to screen within 14 films in the section 'Between the Seas' and 16 films competing in the 'First Lights' section.

In total, the Czech festival includes six in-competition sections that focused on international, European and Czech documentary productions.

In addition, non-competitive sections were organised by the festival staff to "present the current events on the Czech and international documentary scene", cover the reality show industry, explore "the boundary between documentary and fiction filmmaking" and host interested audience in master classes on filmmaking.

The Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival will run until October 30.

The program sections of the festival can be viewed here.