Filmmaker Zaza Urushadze to release new drama feature

Award-winning filmmaker Zaza Urushadze is working on a new drama feature, which takes viewers a century back in time on Ukraine’s Black Sea coast.

Anton, co-produced between Georgia, Ukraine and the United States, is in post-production stage following shooting work that has taken place since last year.

Urushadze’s film revolves around Anton and Jacob, two young boys living in a Roman Catholic village of Fischer-Franzen near Ukraine’s Black Sea resort city of Odessa.

Growing up in the German community of the village shortly after the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in October 1917, Anton experiences a traumatic event when he witnesses execution of his father by revolutionaries.

Written by Dale Eisner, the script is brought to the screens by a lead cast featuring Nikita Shlanchak, Mykyta Dziad, Anton Sebastian and Tettyana Granchik.

With a budget of nearly 1.3 million euros, its scenes were filmed featuring historical buildings in the actual village in Ukraine, with additional work done in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi and the village of Mukhrani.

Urushadze received production support for the feature from both the Georgian National Film Centre and the Ukrainian State Film Agency for the drama produced by Mirza Davitaia and Volodymyr Filippov.

Anton is expected to premiere at a to-be announced festival in late 2018 or early 2019.

Urushadze is known for films including the 2013 feature Tangerines, which received awards at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival and the Warsaw International Film Festival, among other events. It was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

The Georgian filmmaker’s most recent work is Confession, nominated for best feature at the Chicago International Film Festival and International competition at the Warsaw International Film Festival last year.