Georgian Film Receives Top Award at the International Festival in Switzerland
A Georgian movie has gained worldwide recognition at the international film festival in Switzerland.
The recently shot movie named Mama (Father) directed by David Pirtskhalavs was awarded the top prize of the Golden Leopard for the Best International Short Film at the Film Festival of Locarno, held in Switzerland on 5th-15th August.
The Locarno Film Festival is well known worldwide as a festival of discovery. Throughout its history the festival has discovered new trends and launched the careers of numerous directors and actors.
The main character of the award winning movie is nineteen-year-old Lado, who is not happy about the sudden appearance of his father after a very long absence. The young man tries desperately to get some answers from his parent, but in vain. When his father leaves again, Lado goes back to his life of crime, together with his younger brother. He is left to answer the questions their father would not hear.
During ten days of the Festival, the city of Locarno hosted open-air screenings of creative works of the international movie makers. Two Georgian films- Winter Song by Otar Ioseliani and Georgian directed Serbian-Russian co-production Brother Dejan, were competing with Pirtskhalava’s movie for the honorable award at the Locarno’s Film Festival.
Georgia’s National Film Centre (GNFC) announced the movie was a winner of the GNFC project. Therefore, it was the first time that private businesses were involved in a cinema production with a state subsidy.
Since 1946 the city of the mountainous, landlocked country in central Europe has hosted the Festival annually in August.
The main feature of the festival is the open-air screening area at the Piazza Grande with room for over 8,000 spectators, having one of the largest open-air screens in the world.
Tamar Svanidze