Georgian Movie Wins Grand Prix at Karlovy Vary Film Festival

KARLOVY VARY, Czech Republic - Georgian director Rusudan Glurjidze won the East of the West Grand Prix for her first future film House of Others [Skhvisi Sakhli] the 51st Karlovy Vary Film Festival on Saturday.

“We are the generation of the 1990s and we’ve been through two wars- that’s our biography. So we shot a movie telling the story which is inside of us, allowing us to be free and to start speaking about love, friendship, and freedom,” Glurjidze said.

Inspired by the director’s own experiences, the film presents the 1990s, a dark period for Georgia as it endured civil war with the newly emerging state of Abkhazia, this following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival is one of the most popular events held in the Czech Republic every year. The festival brings together hundreds of films and directors from Central and Eastern Europe.

Two years ago, Georgian film director George Ovashvili won the main award, the Crystal Globe, for his wartime drama Corn Island at the same Karlovy Vary Film Festival.