“Why Europe? The film “Verification”, the winner of the Georgian Film Institute’s Short Film Competition, answered this question. As decided by the jury, the film directed by Mr. Giorgi Gotsiridze and Mr. Giorgi Abashvili is “sharp, precise and moderate. Every second, every gesture and every word serve to reiterate a simple notion we knew by heart: Georgia is Europe and we ourselves must shape our European future with a simple choice”.
The Short Film Competition “Why Europe?” was organized with the support of the Civil Society Foundation. Debut and professional film directors showed us in their works how they see Georgia in the European family. The winners of various nominations were awarded monetary prizes, and the audience remembered them as artists with a fascinating creative vision.
“Perhaps, today is the most decisive and existential moment for our country. All efforts are important now, including the efforts of young people and film
directors to declare that we are moving towards Europe, and we need Europe,” this is how Ms. Keti Khutsishvili assessed the importance of the competition at the awards ceremony.
This competition is the second collaboration between the Foundation and the Film Institute. The Georgian Film Institute presented an independent Georgian stand at the Berlin International Film Festival with the support of the Foundation at a time when artists were in a position of boycott by the Ministry of Culture. Now, as then, the goal of the Georgian Film Institute is to bolster the development and positioning of Georgian cinematograph in the international arena.
You can watch the film that won the competition and other films that were selected for the second round, which, with different creative approaches and screenplays, answer the question: “Why Europe?” “https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDcfmZ0hw451vSHFvYdetbWQ6QIv_MDS2
The partners of the project, together with the Civil Society Foundation, were: the Documentary Association Georgia (DOCA), production companies “Arrebato Films” and “3003 Film Production”, Radio Liberty, Culture for Democracy…