Ana Urushadze’s debut feature ’Scary Mother’ honoured at Sarajevo Fest

Debuting filmmaker Ana Urushadze’s feature Scary Mother has been distinguished with its second prize in a week after scooping one of the Sarajevo Film Festival partner awards today.

The young director’s portrayal of a housewife deciding to present her first literary work to family members but encountering controversial reception was awarded the Cineuropa prize.

Granted by the online cinema portal, it was one of the awards bestowed by the festival’s partners before the event’s major ceremony takes place prior to its conclusion on Friday.

Urushadze was on stage to receive the acclaim from organisers, with producer Lasha Khalvashi also in the audience.

The Cineuropa award was one of 10 prizes and special mentions used by partners to distinguish their favourite films of the event.

Scary Mother screened at the Sarajevo festival that has hosted over 100,000 visitors and included other works by Georgian directors.

Featuring script by the emerging director, the film follows Georgian woman Manana, who finally takes up her dream of writing, years after initially shelving the idea in favour of taking care of household work.

As the protagonist of the story begins reading her first published book to family members, she realises her fears of negative reception from relatives are becoming a reality.

It premiered at the Locarno International Film Festival earlier this month and marked the feature debut of Urushadze.

The Swiss festival also became the first event recognising the filmmaker’s talents with a prize, as Scary Mother was distinguished with the First Feature Award.

The cast involves Georgian actors Nato Murvanidze, Dimitri Tatishvili, Rama Ioseliani and Avto Makharadze.

The film was co-produced by Georgian and Estonian studios, with the project receiving financial support via a grant from the Georgian National Film Centre at its production stage.