Oenovideo Festival to Screen Films about Georgian Wine

Wine, representing an unalienable part of the Georgian nation and its culture has brought yet another success to the country. However, this case is not related with the field of gastronomy and drinks, but rather to the cinematography. The history of winemaking in Georgia is now to move to the big screens.

The largest and the most important cinematography festival about wine and winemaking called Oenovideo, is to screen two documentaries about the Georgian wine: ‘Georgia Homeland of Wine’ and ‘Georgia, temple of Qvevri’.

The film, directed by Alexander Gabunia, is dedicated to the representation of the unique and ancient method of Georgian winemaking and its history of 8,000 years to the world. In addition, it introduces an article published in the Journal of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, PNAS, which, based on the thorough scientific research proves that Georgia is the country of origin of winemaking, so-called ‘cradle of wine’. The 4-year research brought together Georgian, as well as international experts of the filed, exploring the development of viniculture in Georgia, its development and spread across the rest of the world.

‘Georgia Homeland of Wine’ focuses on the Qvevri winemaking method, a ‘business card’ of the Georgian viniculture, which was granted the status of the world's intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2013, and tells about the exhibition of history and culture, which was hosted by La Cité du Vin, in Bordeaux in 2017.  

“In parallel to scientific researches and cultural events, the film tells about the role of wine as a cultural phenomenon in the history of the country. In the culture, which has been created for millennia, vineyards and wine is sacralized,” reads the preview of the documentary.

The 40-minute the scientific-documentary film was made with the support of LEPL National Wine Agency of the Ministry of Environment Protection and Agriculture of Georgia and National Intellectual Property Center Sakpatenti and is to be screened on June 15.

‘Georgia, temple of Qvevri’, directed by Brice Garcin, which is scheduled to be introduced to wider audiences a day earlier on June 14, also tells the story of winemaking in Georgia, the methods, used in viniculture locally, which are orally transmitted from generation to generation.

Oenovideo is an annual festival taking place at the Museum of the European and Mediterranean Civilizations in Marseille, France. The event is to be held on June 13-16 this year, bringing together 144 films from different countries participating, out of which only 37 seven of them have been chosen for the list of nominees.

By Ketevan Kvaratskheliya

Image source: oenovideo.com