One of the United States’ long-standing film events is about to showcase two generations of Georgian directors, with The Confession by Zaza Urushadze and Scary Mother by Ana Urushadze in the program of the Chicago International Film Festival.
Established in 1965, this year the festival will mark its 53rd edition with over 200 films from around the world starting this Thursday.
Zaza Urushadze’s drama about a priest encountering a beautiful local woman in a small village community will be screened on October 15 and 16 within the International Feature Competition.
The same dates have been selected for the US debut of Ana Urushadze, with her film narrating about a woman presenting her first book to family members only to realise her fears of negative reception from relatives and wider society are becoming a reality.
Scary Mother, part of the New Directors Competition, will also be shown at the Chicago event on October 20
This first feature of the young director has already been honoured with prizes from the Sarajevo Film Festival and Locarno International Film Festival, where the feature premiered earlier this year.
Both filmmakers are expected to be in attendance at festival screenings.
The Chicago event is promoted as "North America’s oldest competitive film festival” and is hosted by parent organisation Cinema/Chicago.
The festival will run through October 26. The full program of films can be found on the official website here.