Two Georgian documentaries still in the production phase have been selected among 11 worldwide projects to receive support from a special cinema development fund of the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA).
The IDFA Bertha Fund picked Georgia’s award-winning film projects Love Song. Pastorale by filmmaker Tinatin Gurchiani and City of the Sun by Rati Oneli as part of its February 2016 selection of 11 works.
Announced on April 5, the 11 chosen films from countries including Iran, Colombia, Egypt and Morocco, will receive a share of a total grant of €141,000 (about $160,000/367,000 GEL*).
A still from director Tinatin Gurchiani's in-development project Love Song. Pastorale. Photo from IDFA.
The 11 projects were selected from an initial submission of 263 projects from more than 60 countries.
The final selection was made in the Production and Postproduction category of the Bertha Fund.
Gurchiani and Oneli won prizes for their documentary projects at the 2015 Visions du Reel Film Festival in Nyon, Switzerland last year.
Oneli's film City of the Sun told the story of the life and hardships of residents of the Chiatura mining town in western Georgia.
A still from director Rati Oneli's in-development project City of the Sun. Photo from IDFA.
Gurchiani's 90-minute documentary Love Song. Pastorale focused on the philosophical questions of how people approached the last years of their lives.
The IDFA Bertha Fund is promoted by organisers as the world's only fund "dedicated solely to stimulating and empowering the creative documentary sector in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and parts of Eastern Europe".
Established in 1997, the fund has supported 500 cinema projects over 19 years.
The full February 2016 selection of projects supported by the IDFA Bertha Fund can be viewed on the official website here.
*Currencies are equivalent with the latest National Bank of Georgia exchange rate.