Connecting Thoughts: CinéDOC-Tbilisi Returns in May
For its 7th edition, CinéDOC-Tbilisi will once more offer the Tbilisi public a selection of spectacular documentaries that they would otherwise be unable to access. As always, it is a unique occasion to discover these films.
From the May 8-13, 60 documentaries will be screened in Tbilisi. The theme of this year is ‘Connecting Thoughts’ and for the first time, the documentaries have been organized into 14 topic-categories including Unconditional Love, Beyond Faith, Red Soul, Our Planet and Us, A Place We Call Home, and Aftermath of Conflict.
The Guest Country of the Year is Hungary, therefore, a delegation from Hungary will visit Tbilisi and present five creative documentaries. There will be two competitions: Caucasus Focus and an International Competition.
GEORGIA TODAY had the chance to talk to Ileana Stanculescu, the Festival Coordinator, and Mariam Chutkerashvili, Program and Guest Coordinator.
What is special about the 7th edition this year?
For the first time this year we decided to present the films to the audience according to specific topics, and not just according to the different competitions the films pertain to.
For example, the topic ‘Red Soul’ will present documentaries dealing with the Soviet Union, and the influence of the Soviet past today in Georgia and Russia- it is a very interesting selection of four films. ‘Our planet and Us’ deals with environmental issues and sustainable farming. ‘Aftermath of Conflict,’ is about the conflicts that happened in Abkhazia and South Ossetia and how these conflicts are still influencing the life of people today.
We divided the films into topics so that it would be more interesting for the audience. This way, they know better what they can expect from a documentary.
For the International Competition, the jury will be composed of Georgian director Mariam Chachia, Petra Seliskar, Director of Makedox, and Ondrej Kamenický from Prague, who is the director of the biggest Human Rights Film festival ‘One world.’ For the Focus Caucasus competition, the jury members will be Kenan Aliyev from Current Time TV, Csilla Kató, the Director of the Astra Film festival in Romania, and Tue Steen Müllerwho is a well-known film critic.
How did you select the 60 documentaries?
We watched around 300 films, we went together to many festivals. We traveled a lot but we also did an open call in which we received more than 200 documentaries from all around the world.
What is good about the festival is that we obviously have documentaries from very well-known film makers such as Vitaly Mansky and Nicolas Philibert, but we also have some films by complete newcomers, like Georgian young film-makers who just made their first short documentary.
Which documentary do you particularly recommend?
We have a very nice film called ‘Una Primavera’ from Italy which was submitted to us. It is about an Italian woman who tries to divorce her husband while all her family is against her. It is very interesting to discuss the situation of women in a very patriarchal society.
Another important one is ‘Putin’s witnesses’ by Vitaly Mansky which goes back to the time when Putin was first elected president and when people believed he would bring innovation and change. The film is about people who helped him come to power. The film-maker is coming to the festival and will give masterclasses in the National Archive Cinema.
What are the challenges of organizing such an event in Tbilisi?
Overall, the festival organization started very well because we started looking for films early in October.
The festival is always very crowded and we have to manage to screen a large number of documentaries in only few days since we cannot allow ourselves to extend the festival. Fortunately, many of the 60 films are short and will be screened together. We try to program the festival so that people have the opportunity to see what they want to see and every competition film is screened twice during the week.
As for the funding, it’s always a challenge, but last year, we managed to get a three-year funding from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), which finally gives us some stability and we’re very happy about it. Of course, we still need to get other sources of funding but it’s already a major help.
What message do you want to deliver through this year’s selection?
We wanted to open the festival to a larger audience. Documentaries affect everybody; they say something about us, our life and our countries. It makes people reflect and think, and as such anybody can be captured by our documentaries. We created topic-categories to show people that they are all involved in the selection. If you watch a few films, it will make you connect ideas which is why the festival is called ‘Connecting Thoughts.’
For us, the International Competition is of course important, but the Focus Caucasus is what really makes our festival special. Most international guests come for the Focus Caucasus competition; people looking for new projects and ideas. We also try to promote films from Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia for other European festivals.
What can you say about your guest country?
We selected five films from Hungary. We are also lucky that Wizz Air is financing four flights from Kutaisi to Budapest. People buying tickets for the Hungarian films will be able to participate in a lottery and win return flights for Budapest.
Ticket: 5 GEL per film
Tickets on sale here: www.biletebi.ge/cinedoc-tbilisi/Schedule?fbclid=IwAR0Gu6T9-c-edcT1OKhcxuxuGWtXafTD1L0iwi1v3NLvpN2Gh4LzpP0IrKQ
The full program is available here:
Interview has been edited for more clarity.
By Gabrielle Colchen
Image source: Ciné-DOC Tbilisi Facebook page