A social drama describing the lives of prisoner’s wives, and a sad comedy about the life of an unlucky young man were of interest to Berlinale audience. The halls for 600 people were packed full and the films were strongly applauded.
Numerous foreign editions offered interesting reviews of the films.
Vvladan Petkovic offers an article in "Cineuropa”with the following title:
„Berlinale - an Impressive Transformation of a Greek Tragedy in the Form of The Brides."
Vladan Petkovic adds: "The emotional content of Tinatin Kajrishvili’s first feature film brings us to catharsis.”
„The latest film which may be called "A New Georgian Wave” is an example of marvelous cinematographic product and deserves a far larger audience than the festival circles."
Cineuropa (by Vladan Petkovic 15/02/2014)
Hollywood Reporter evaluates Levan Koghuashvili’s "Blind Dates” as follows:
„The second feature film by Georgian director Levan Koghuashvili has won numerous awards. Despite periodically stretched narration„ "Blind Dates" is a tragic-comic film which is enjoyable to watch, with its weak men and strong, although restrained women. Unlike the first film made in 2010 („Street Days"), „Blind Dates"draws an optimistic pictureof the Georgian society despite economic hardships and refugee problems. After the premiere in Toronto, ‘Blind Dates” traveled from Abu-Dabi and Palm Spring to Berlinale Forum.
„The spatial solution of frames and the general design of the product are in harmony and reveal people of diverse characters and social backgrounds. On the other hand, the colours of costumes subconsciously unite all the protegonists, e.g. the costumes of Sandro and Manana are chromatically siumilar, although their fates are different."
Hollywood reporter 2/8/2014 by Leslie Felperin
The films were selected by Nikolay Nikitin- Belrinale selectionist – during his visit to Tbilisi. GNFC has cooperated with Nikitin for several years now.
This year’s Berlinale was especially large-scale: the audience was the largest in its history and 330000tickets were sold. The halls were packed full at the screenings of Georgian films too.
GNFC at Berlinale Film market - European Film Market
This year GNFC participated in the European Film market at Berlinale for the 9thtime.
A Georgian stand was opened, providing detailed information to the Festival guests and film professionals about the current state of Georgian film industry, recent Georgian films and development strategies in the sector. Meetings were arranged at the Georgian stand with GNFC partners and international colleagues.Numerous future projects have been planned.
·In October 2014 a retrospective of films by female Georgian directors will be organized in South Korea at the largest Asian film festival. "The Brides” by Tinatin Kajrishvili will participate in the Festival competition.
·In 2015 the Documentary Film Festival in Switzerland will focus on Georgia.
·GNFC has started cooperation with one of the major European festivals – Doc Leipzig.These relations were enhanced in Berlin.
·The professional training program EAVE will continue in Tbilisi.
·Cooperation was established between GNFC and one of the major animation festivals in Europe – Annecy(France). Georgia will actively participate in the coming festival.
·Tbilisi will join the European Film Academy Young Audience Awards.Tbilisi will be among 13 European capitals screening recent films online for children aged 12-14. Georgian youngsters will participate in the voting.
·GNFC held important meetings with the EU Foundation "Creative Europe”.A partnership has been launched aimed at enhancing diverse fields of Georgian film industry.
The stand offered a catalogue of recent Georgian films, GNFC information brochures, a disk of trailers of recent Georgian films, a disk of recent short films and information about the shooting benefits in Georgia.
Berlinale film market also presented Teona Mghvdeladze-Grenade’s film"Brother",first screened during Rotterdam Film Festival.
On February 9GNFC and Teliani Valley wine company offered a reception for foreign partners and filmmakers. The informal meetings were interesting and fruitful. Speeches were made by Berlinale Forum Director, Georgian Ambassador in Germany and other guests, who underlined the success of recent Georgian films.
