DocStories Black Sea/ 2
During the first session of the doc storytelling workshop DocStories Black Sea presentations were made. One was – naturally – about the Georgian National Film Center, whose director Tamara Tatishvili (photo) came up with a very clear and encouraging status of the Georgian cinema in its present situation, financially and film politically with a focus on its involvement with documentaries. The Center, that was set up in 2001, is also a member of Eurimages, from November last year and has already, Tamara Tatishvili told, got more back for coproductions than the government has given out to be a member of Eurimages. All in all the presentation gave the impression of a professionally run public institution in a small country where documentaries are given a priority.
There is 1.4 mio.€ channelled to the Center yearly, and there is 775.000€ for film from other sources. There are two competitons per year, committees decide on the allocation of the funding – for documentaries there is 120.000€ for production. 7 documentaries came out last year supported by the Center.
Tatishvili told that she on behalf of the Center had signed an agreement with the public broadcaster to have a weekly slot for documentaries starting from September this year with films supported by the Center.
Also to be noticed is the impressive publication Filmprint (in English) that the Center publishes.
7 Georgian documentarians took part in the first session in the Goethe Institute in Tbilisi.
