Filmmakers Vakhtang Kuntsev-Gabashvili, Mariam Khatchvani awarded at Golden Apricot fest

Georgian filmmakers Vakhtang Kuntsev-Gabashvili and Mariam Khatchvani emerged as prize-winners at this year’s Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival, with the event featuring notable directors including Darren Aronofsky and Roman Bondarchuk.

As the awards ceremony of the event celebrated participants distinguished with awards on Sunday, Kuntsev-Gabashvili and Khatchvani were announced as recipients of the juries’ acclaim.

The former’s feature documentary Transparent World now lists the Special Jury Mention of the festival as its first international recognition.

It is centred around 26-year old Beka, an aspiring film director who was born prematurely and faced a struggle for survival at infancy.

Assisted by his father in the quest for becoming a filmmaker, he sees photography and filming as his "transparent world”.

Beka has problems, he gets angry with himself and the world around him, [only] to [become] the most gentle grandson with [his] granny [the next moment]”, said a review by Tue Steen Müller of the Filmkommentaren cinema review blog.

In the other prize-winning appearance, Mariam Khatchvani’s internationally acclaimed feature Dede claimed the FIPRESCI Jury Prize of the Yerevan festival.

In the film’s script, Dina, a young woman falls in love with a fellow villager coming back from conflict, while her grandfather has agreed for her to be married to another soldier returning from the war.

A still from 'Dede' by director Mariam Khatchvani. Photo: 20 Steps Productions.

Producer Vladimer Katcharava was on stage in Yerevan to accept the honour for Khatchvani.

Khatchvani has scooped a range of accolades for her work, including the Special Jury Prize of the 2017 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and the Cultural Diversity Award of the 2017 Asia Pacific Screen Awards.

The 15th edition of the Golden Apricot festival singled out director Roman Bondarchuk’s Volcano as the winner of its principal award.

Juries of the cinema event, founded in 2004, handed out the prizes at the Aram Khachaturian Concert Hall in the capital city.