29/04/2022 - The Georgian filmmaker comments on the poetic style of her film and provides some interesting insights into its production process

After having its world premiere at IDFA and having just been screened within the Specials section of the goEast Film Festival, the Georgian documentary How the Room Felt [+see also:
film review
interview: Ketevan Kapanadze
film profile] by Ketevan Kapanadze is now getting an airing in Canada, at HotDocs. It portrays a queer community that has formed around the female football team in Georgia’s third-biggest city, Kutaisi, by providing up-close footage of their gatherings, talks and atmospheric, private moments. As Kapanadze puts it in her director’s notes, “The film invites viewers to just spend some time and chill with the protagonists, to feel like members of this self-made family.”

Cineuropa: The title of the film was borrowed from Audre Lorde’s poem Suspension, and there is an obvious poetic direction that your documentary takes. Was this intentional?
Ketevan Kapanadze: The title actually came later, at the very end of the post-production process. Audre Lorde is a feminist writer and an open lesbian, whom I really like and read from time to time. This excerpt from the poem that appears at the beginning of the film [“How the room felt/ When your word was spoken – Warm/ As the centre of your palms/ And as unfree”] refers to a certain mood. The movie is trying to depict the atmosphere created by the characters, so I could not resist and decided to reflect it even in the title.

It fits in well with the content of the film, since most of the time, we see the characters within an enclosed space – they hardly leave the room. Maybe it’s because they are not prone to open activism revolving around their sexuality, and they would rather stay inside and talk amongst themselves. But what is their situation outside the room, where we don’t see them?
Indeed, the film does not deal with activism, but in real life, they do try to speak about things openly. Two of the characters are actually directly involved in feminist and queer activism. It is expressed through creating this mutual space where they can stay together and take care of each other. This is a form of resistance against the heteronormative environment, so it is not about activism in the way we commonly understand it. It is about finding a safe space and developing mutual trust.

It’s also a matter of cultural perception – activism in the West is outspoken and loud, while in the East, it seems more subtle and less insistent.
There is a Western image of what activism should be, but it might just not work here. In the case of the characters in How the Room Felt, playing football as females is also activism, in a way, as it goes against so many stereotypes. That’s why I really tried to focus on the magical atmosphere because it is the core of the community, of the self-made family they have created. The unity and their togetherness are way more valuable than the various slogans from pride demonstrations, so we tried to concentrate on that.

To what extent were you part of this family while making the film?
The reason why I wanted to make the film was the very first evening I spent with them in Kutaisi, after meeting them through a common friend. The smoky kitchen with wooden walls and soft, warm lights felt cosy; I was fascinated and observed every detail closely. It was special, and I felt like part of this community, as we could skip the formalities right away. After this very first encounter, I made the decision to make the film, and that’s why it concentrates mostly on the talking and the sense of togetherness.

And what is the position of the female football team in Georgian society?
Being a female, one cannot really pursue a career as a football player in Georgia. Although they are professionals who represent the city of Kutaisi at different championships, they are paid ridiculously low wages, and some of them have second jobs in shops and so on. Lately, it might have been getting better, as we have a national football federation that is trying to achieve integration on the European level, but they still don’t care so much about female football.

There are some very intimate scenes steeped in alcohol, where the girls share their existential views and personal details. How did they react when they saw themselves on screen?
The process of making the film was really long – it took us around two years of shooting and nine months of editing. Thus, we spent plenty of time together, during which I was careful not to harm anyone, as making a film about queer people in Georgia could be dangerous. Although we decided not to go for a wide distribution of the film in Georgia – we had only one private screening – it still poses a risk, even a life-threatening one, unfortunately. During the editing process, I showed all of the rough cuts to the girls, so in this sense, it is a collective work as well, because everything you see on screen has been included with their consent. We had lots of discussions until we reached a satisfactory result for everyone.