Georgian Film Center Speaks out against "Sokhumi Film Festival"

The Georgian National Film Center (GNFC) has released a statement regarding the so called International Short Film Festival in Georgia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia (Sokhumi), which is showing several European films.

The GNFC says that the “festival” might be used by the de facto authorities for political purposes.

The Georgian side has warned its colleagues that “the Abkhazian region is illegally occupied [by the Russian Federation], from which hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons and refugees have been expelled.”

“In such a situation, holding such an event is an attempt to somehow demonstrate the 'ndependency and legitimization' of occupational regimes,” the statement of the GNFC reads.

The National Film Center of Georgia is calling on its colleagues around the world not to be misled by the "soft power" of the Russian occupation regime and not to violate Georgian legislation, including the Law of Georgia on Occupied Territories.

The statement reads that the National Film Center has been successfully cooperating with film centers, film-makers, and prestigious international film festivals of different countries for years.

“We will use all ways possible to inform our foreign colleagues not to violate the fundamental principles of international law, such as the territorial integrity of a sovereign state and the inviolability of internationally recognized borders,” the GNFC stated.

Information about the opening of the so called international festival in breakaway Abkhazia was released by Abkhazian news agency Apsypress.

According to the information, the "Sokhumi International Short Film Festival" contest program includes a selection of 32 films created in “Abkhazia, Russia, Western Europe (Belgium, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, etc.), as well as in Uzbekistan, Iran and Morocco.”

By Thea Morrison

Photo source: GNFC