Georgian feature 'Negative Numbers' to premiere at French, Italian festivals
The film is based on true events that involved former rugby professionals bringing the game to juvenile offenders in a Georgian detention centre. Photo via Eurimages.
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Georgian director Uta Beria's feature story of juvenile offenders learning the delights of rugby in detention will have its world premiere at France's Arras Film Festival next month, followed by another screening at Rome Independent Film Festival.
Negative Numbers, a Georgian-French-Italian co-production which benefited from a production grant of Eurimages, a major cultural support fund of the Council of Europe, will now debut to audience of the two festivals before screening in Georgia later this year.
The Georgian National Film Centre competition-winning feature is based on a true story of former professional rugby players bringing their love for the game to a detention facility in Georgia.
Beria's feature is set to have its world premiere at the Arras festival in northern France:
[COMPÉTITION] NEGATIVE NUMBERS de Uta Beria
— Arras Film Festival (@ArrasFilmFestiv) October 23, 2019
Le choc de deux mondes au cœur d’une prison filmé avec justesse et réalisme !https://t.co/Qub7EKmbyI#ArrasFilm #NegativeNumbers pic.twitter.com/4CdOWnqGjg
Set in the early 2010s, when an economic crisis pushed many of the country’s unemployed youth into petty crime and, eventually, in juvenile detention, the film was inspired by notes of the two athletes from their real-life visits to the youth.
The debut feature for Beria, the work features screenplay by the director and cinematography by Tato Kotetishvili.
Dignity and respect are among the most important concepts in rugby, which comes into conflict with the system operating among the inmates, based on oppression and hate," Beria said in summary of his work.
Shooting of the work was done at Tbilisi's Avchala Prison, with the film produced by Magnet Films, Alief, 1991 Productions, 39 Films and Wide Management.
The project for Negative Numbers also benefited from the state program ‘Film in Georgia’, established to stimulate the local film sector by offering favourable conditions for local and international filmmakers producing in the country.
The film will debut in the European Competition of the Arras festival - set to run between November 8-18 - before also being seen by audiences of the Rome event's Feature Film Competition. The latter festival is scheduled to run between November 15-22.
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Three films being shot by Georgian filmmakers or co-produced by studios from the country have received production grants from Eurimages, a major cultural support fund of the Council of Europe.
A feature film titled ‘Negative Numbers’ is being produced in Georgia, about how rugby changed the lives of children in conflict with the law at the Special Educational Establishment of the Ministry of Corrections in the capital Tbilisi.
Film director Uta Beria has been awarded the development grant of Arras Days, a platform of the Arras Film Festival in France, for his in-progress work Love in the Time of Riot.
Two works by Georgian directors will be presented at the European Film Market for this year's Berlin International Film Festival, with Uta Beria's debut feature Negative Numbers and The Golden Thread by Georgian cinema's acclaimed director Lana Gogoberidze in screenings later this month.
Dea Kulumbegashvili's Toronto- and San Sebastian Film Festival-winning feature Beginning will compete with Uta Beria's Georgian-French-Italian co-production drama Negative Numbers and Odesa International Film Festival prize nominee Ursus by Otar Shamatava for the selection of Georgia's next Academy Award bid.