Director Giorgi Tsilosani’s short film honoured at silent film fest

Filmmaker Giorgi Tsilosani has been honoured for his work on the 2015 short film The Preparation after the director received the Best Directing award from the Globe International Silent Film Festival in the United States last week.

Promoted as one of the few international cinema occasions focusing on silent film, the festival ran at the Michigan State University.

The results of the festival’s competition program were announced on April 11, with Tsilosani’s work revealed among seven prize-winning submissions.

Shot in 2015 in the western Georgia’s Cholobargi village, The Preparation casts actors in a portrait of a family preparing for the death of its elder member.

The production was awarded with Best Short Film at the International Bosphorus Film Festival in Turkey and received Special Jury Prize at the Batumi International Art-House Film Festival in Georgia.

The Preparation was also shown at the Eastern Neighbours Film Festival in the Netherlands, with organisers praising it as an "exciting, wonderfully shot film”.

The film has also received awards at festivals in Turkey and Georgia since its release. Photo: The Preparation film Facebook page.

Tsilosani worked on the short as director and screenwriter, with his film produced by Tbilisi-based Millimeter Film studio with support from the Shota Rustaveli Theatre and Film Georgia State University.

The Preparation was Tsilosani's 2015 graduation work from the University.

Founded in 2015, the Globe International Silent Film Festival is held in a "different academic environment around the world every year”.