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SOFA 2020

Tamara Tatishvili • Tutor, SOFA

"Avere una piattaforma di formazione per professionisti è fondamentale per i paesi del Partenariato orientale"

di 

- Abbiamo parlato con la professionista del cinema georgiana Tamara Tatishvili del suo lavoro come tutor presso la School of Film Advancement attualmente in corso

Tamara Tatishvili  • Tutor, SOFA

Questo articolo è disponibile in inglese.

Tamara Tatishvili is one of the busiest Georgian film professionals. She served as the head of the Georgian National Film Center (GNFC) from 2010-2013 and as the country's Eurimages national delegate for nine years. She was subsequently the Georgian representative of European Film Promotion until 2019. Now she is the head of training for MEDICI, and we talked to her on the occasion of SOFA's second workshop module (25-30 April), where she is one of the tutors, and which is now taking place online instead of in Tbilisi.

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Cineuropa: With Georgian films finding their place on the international map in the last ten years, could you offer us an insight into how this was made possible?
Tamara Tatishvili:
Although I am no longer involved with the Georgian National Film Center, I am still in touch with local colleagues and friends, with whom we made solid moves that lent greater visibility to Georgian films in the past. When I was managing the GNFC, my priorities were to focus on identifying young Georgian talent, to help create strong producing skills among the independent producers in the country, to integrate Georgia into the international mechanisms that would facilitate co-productions, and to better promote Georgian films.

Could you give us some examples of your collaborations?
We started cooperating with the EAVE platform, and we financed tailor-made sessions for Georgian talent. We also revamped the negotiations for becoming a member of Eurimages, and we joined European Film Promotion. Also, we hosted re-run sessions of the Cannes Critics’ Week and so on – the list is long.

What would you say are the biggest advantages of, and problems facing, the Georgian film industry?
In countries like Georgia, you are extremely limited in terms of financial resources, and funding for culture is a long and tiresome debate. For that reason, I had to be precise in prioritising my goals and rely heavily on strong partnerships and international cooperation. Today, there are no industry events or professional networking activities where Georgian talent is not present, and this always makes me happy. In our sector, networking is a keyword, and I don’t want to mythicise it, but being part of a network helps you find your feet, face your first disappointments, and then track down the right partners. Through that process, you structure your business model and work with the artistic talent you are passionate about.

Does the presence of European initiatives in the country help you in achieving this?
Georgia had to form its own support mechanisms for the cultural sector and also needs to be fully integrated in the European schemes as well, in order to feel the pulse of European and international independent filmmaking. In that way, our professionals would be reassured that they are not alone. I think we all know today what it means to be isolated, and training programmes like SOFA help to combat professional isolation, and make us understand that structural and logistical change is also possible on Europe’s Eastern fringe.

How do you see the significance of SOFA as a training platform?
I believed in the main idea of SOFA from the very beginning, when Nikolaj Nikitin shared his thoughts with me. As I work very actively in the “Eastern Partnership” countries, I was immediately convinced that having a training platform for film professionals was of crucial importance. SOFA is a platform that allows selected participants to be integrated into a professional network, and expose themselves to peers who are open to sharing and improving their project ideas. I have mentored four great professionals within the SOFA framework in the last few years, hailing from Ukraine, Poland, Belarus and Georgia, and I have stayed in touch with all of them.

How was the experience of SOFA expanding to Georgia?
In 2016, Nikolaj told me he wanted to expand the concept and introduce the notion of the second workshop to SOFA. I realised that Georgia would be the perfect spot, as the industry side still needs to be developed. Thanks to the support from Zura Magalashvili, the director of the GNFC back then, we hosted the first workshop in Tbilisi in 2017. As for the benefits, more established professionals can discover the country, public events are organised where local professionals can attend, and there is a professional peer-to-peer exchange that creates stronger interactions and connections.

How do you feel about this year’s digital edition?
It is an experiment for us all, and I was rather sad that we could not go to Tbilisi. SOFA's digital iteration is retaining the main idea: it’s just that we will not be connected, but we try to be truly united. I see a big difference there. A digital workshop will make sense if we all – both mentors and mentees – contribute equally: we have to rethink, reshape and allow mistakes. That’s my spirit for the workshop.

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