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DOCLISBOA 2020

Doclisboa brings 100 years of Georgian cinema to Lisbon

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- Georgia is also the guest country of Doclisboa’s industry programme, Nebulae

Doclisboa brings 100 years of Georgian cinema to Lisbon
My Grandmother by Kote Mikaberidze

By the end of May, Doclisboa had announced the formal changes to its 18th edition: this edition will have a programme divided into six modules, running between October 2020 and March 2021. At the time, the festival’s directors (Joana Gusmão, Joana Sousa and Miguel Ribeiro) shared a statement in which they asserted that they had decided to extend “the presentation of our programming across Lisbon’s various venues” as well as spacing it out over time, hoping to “contribute to the reconstruction of a gesture that brings those who watch and those who make films together”. This is a gesture they perceive “as an act of resistance” by “an art of collective experience”.

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Now, Doclisboa has unveiled the core of its programme’s first module: a retrospective dedicated to Georgian cinema. This first strand will run from 22 October-1 November, at the Cinemateca Portuguesa. The programme was curated by director, editor and translator Marcelo Felix, and has been supported by the Georgian National Film Center. The programme will offer a broad selection of works, ranging from the 1920s until more recent years, in an attempt to present the diverse array of forms and themes present in Georgian movies, whilst also exploring the connection between the past and the present of this country’s cinema. According to Felix, this is “a long-overdue demonstration of Portugal’s recognition of this reflective, challenging and unique cinema”.

The programme will include Kote Mikaberidze’s My Grandmother (1929) and Gueorgui Chenguelaia’s Alaverdoba (1962), as well as newly restored copies of films (some of them provided by the Georgian National Film Center) helmed by Sergei Parajanov, Mikheil Kalatozishvili, Mikheil Chiaureli, Tengiz Abuladze and Otar Iosseliani, amongst others.

Connecting the past and present inevitably implies a glimpse at the filmographies of an iconic family of Georgian female directors, spanning three generations: Nutsa Gogoberidze (the first Georgian female director), Lana Gogoberidze and Salome Aleksi. A more contemporary cinematic generation will also be showcased, including works by Mariam Khachvani, Salome Jashi and George Ovashvili, amongst others.

Besides this extensive retrospective, Doclisboa has already announced that Georgia will be the guest country of the second edition of the festival’s industry programme, Nebulae, which will be held online between 22 October and 1 November, with a programme of meetings, presentations and a pitching session for national projects on the agenda.

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