Georgian short films made available online amid coronavirus isolation
A still from 'Bad People', the first short to be made available for viewing by the Georgian studio. Photo via 20 Steps.
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Cinephiles staying at home as a safety measure from the new coronavirus can make their isolation more entertaining through a newly available selection of short films, made viewable online by 20 Steps production studio.
Over the next month, the Tbilisi-based production group will release links to full versions of shorts produced with their participation, with award-winning titles such as Dinola and Bad People included alongside animation films.
The studio launched the digital programme with Bad People, a work based around the tumultuous 1990s in Georgia, with the civil war of the time period providing a backdrop for its protagonists.
- Watch Bad People, the first short film made available for viewing, on its Vimeo platform page here
Animated short 'Li.le' by Natia Nikolashvili is in the 20 Steps selection for a month of cinema releases:
Coming from filmmaker Giorgi Tavartkiladze, the short collected the Best International Drama Award at the Discover Film Awards in London last year as well as the Best Action Short Award from the Los Angeles International Short Film Festival.
Bad People follows Gia, a participant in the conflict in the early 1990s. Thrust in the grim reality of two opposing armed groups facing off in downtown Tbilisi, Gia seeks to get hold of medicine for his son, while also finding himself in an encounter with his former schoolmate now fighting on the other side of the divide.
In their announcement of the first film of the selection 20 Steps also unveiled the other picks, to go up for viewing throughout the month, including Dinola by Mariam Khatchvani, Detonator by Beso Solomanashvili and Chasing the Wind by Zura Demetrashvili.
The programme also includes animation works Granny by Sandro Katamashvili, Li.le by Natia Nikolashvili and Fisherman and the Girl by Mamuka Tkeshelashvili.
With theatres across the world closed and stage art enthusiasts staying at home due to the coronavirus, the Tbilisi Youth Theatre has made a move to celebrate World Children's Theatre Day by bringing its productions to viewers in digital form.
Radio channels across Georgia will join their European counterparts in bringing encouragement to those staying at home or battling the coronavirus outbreak by playing the same song throughout the continent at the same time on Friday.
While exhibition spaces and cultural institutions shut down across Georgia over the last week as a measure against the new coronavirus, the Georgian National Museum has made available digital tours of its collections to museum-goers staying at home.
Three major clubbing venues in Tbilisi have temporarily shuttered their doors to ensure prevention of a spread of coronavirus infections at large gatherings, with Bassiani, Mtkvarze and Khidi announcing decisions to suspend events on calendar for the rest of the month.
Cinema production studios and the Georgian National Film Centre have made over a dozen contemporary films available for viewing for free online, in a move aimed at cheering up those in social isolation from COVID-19 risks.
The Batumi International Art-House Film Festival will make its 2020 edition particularly relevant to this year's theme by running an entire section for films about social isolation amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Over two dozen short films by Georgian directors will be made available for viewing free on the web throughout May 26, to mark the country's Independence Day.