Cinedoc Tbilisi Starts Tonight
Arriving to Rustaveli Palace Hotel in Tbilisi this morning after two flights from Copenhagen. Five hours of sleep and then out to re-discover lovely Tbilisi ending up with a cappuccino and a chacha outside the Marco Polo restaurant, where Current Time TV’s Kenan Aliyev and his Georgian filmmaker friend were sitting. Kenan told me that he intends to continue – with his Russian language channel – to support emerging filmmakers and he is also here to hand out awards during the Civil Pitch, as he did in Kiev at the DocuDays. A small looking back: This restaurant was some years ago the breakfast place for – among others – Latvian Uldis Cekulis and British Peter Symes. We had – Georgian tradition – at least in the countryside it was said – a morning chacha to give us a kick before the tutoring of documentarians at the Goethe Institute closeby.
And then off to Amirani theatre, where most of the screenings will take place. To collect the bag with the badge and the program, and to say hello to Artchil Khetagouri and Ileana Stanculescu, the two festival directors. They were there surrounded by a dedicated group of staff members and volunteers preparing for the opening night, carrying wine to the cinema lobby as you can see on the photo.
The opening film is “Transparent World” by Georgian Vakhtang Kuntsev-Gabashvili, warm and wonderful it is, here is the description of the film:
“Life is not only about giving birth to a child, it is about the responsibility that new life brings into our existence, that the child will be brought up as a legitimate person. Right-minded parents will gracefully share the duty of being patient and loyal to their child.
Today Beka is 26 years old… His father taught him his profession. Beka makes art photography and a film about a physicist and composer. He had his first photo exhibition recently. Father’s patience and understanding helped him to introduce his son to adult life and make him believe in his own talent…”
Back to my festival bag, where there was also to be found a football shirt and football shorts and a whistle… There is a film about football, Romanian called “Infinite Football”, about a man who wants to change the rules of the noble game. “They”, the festival organisers, want me to be the referee of the match that is a test of the rules… Oooh, I am already dead nervous. Not Kenan from Current Time: I want to play!
