Batumi Art-House Film Festival launches crowdfunding after Culture Ministry, state authorities decline funding for 2022
BIAFF editions have been held for the past 16 years at cinema venues in Georgia's Black Sea city of Batumi. Photo: batumelebi.netgazeti.ge
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Batumi Art-House Film Festival, an annual event that has been held in Georgia's Black Sea city uninterruptedly since 2006, has launched a crowdfunding drive in a bid to raise funds to host this year's edition after the national and regional culture ministries, Georgian National Film Centre and Batumi City Hall all declined contributing to its funding.
Organisers announced this month they were starting the crowdfunding, asking international cinema communities, festival organisers and individuals to "provide support to independent film festival which each year manages to create the festive platform for all cinema lovers in Batumi and promotes independent filmmakers".
They said the festival was facing "the most difficult situation in its history" after "all government sponsors" had "refused to finance" its 2022 edition without providing "any clear and logical arguments" for the refusal.
The controversy stemmed from the Batumi City Hall, where organisers had submitted a request for funding - as has been customary for its previous editions - announcing it had exhausted its budget after deciding to finance other project submissions before they had reached their announced deadline.
#letsmakebiafftogether – Support by donation BIAFF Batumi Film Festival facing harsh financial challenge after government cuts all financing ! https://t.co/oBcYsf97VX
— BIAFF (@biaffbatumi) September 5, 2022
Festival Manager Zviad Eliziani told netgazeti.ge the City Hall's decision to begin reviewing project financing requests before all submissions had been received with the deadline meant placing festival organisers in "unequal, unfair conditions" by favouring those who had entered their projects earlier.
In their comments, city authorities also told the website the BIAFF submission had featured a "problem" of not having had the usual annual co-financing from the Ministry of Culture of Georgia in their submission to the City Hall. The online publication said it had requested information from both the Ministry and the National Film Centre for reasons for their refusal to co-finance the event, but said neither institution had responded to the request.
In notes on the refusal of the state structures to finance the 2022 edition of the festival, BIAFF organisers said the decisions were "in line with current repressive cultural policy in Georgia", in apparent reference to a range of allegedly politically motivated dismissals from cultural institutions since the appointment of Thea Tsulukiani as the Minister in the spring of 2021.
They also said the prospective 17th edition of the festival was not without any financing support, noting they had obtained pledging from foreign embassies and were dependent on state structures to complete the budget for the festival.
The organisers launched their crowdfunding campaign on the GoFundMe platform with a funding goal of $7,000.
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