We’re delighted to join hands with Caucasus Cinema to co-present SPUR OF THE MOMENT, a series of short films from the Republic of Georgia! Each year, Caucasus Cinema brings together filmmakers from all over the world to explore the Georgian landscape and create short films in exactly one week! We’re excited to share a selection of these narrative experiments that showcase spirited and inventive filmmaking from the South Caucasus.

The filmmakers bring us stories from far and wide: from the observations of a tombstone designer, an empathetic portrait of a single mother, an experimental Western, and so much more! These films emerge from rigorous cross cultural collaborations that embrace spontaneity and improvisation. Come through to tune in to these filmmaking adventures!

Doors at 7:30, show starts at 8PM.

Note: Caucasus Cinema’s Autumn 2023 session is currently accepting applications! The deadline is August 20th, you can apply at www.caucasuscinema.com“

FILM PROGRAM

In the Georgian town of Akhalkalki, “Mother” follows Lala, a mother of three, as she bravely confronts life’s hardships, embodying the indomitable strength of motherhood in a journey of resilience.

This short hybrid documentary is a portrait of a 13-year-old girl in Gori, Georgia with a vivid imagination and love of storytelling.

Aleksander Petrovich, a tombstone manager at the cemetery in Kutaisi, knows everything about tombstones – and a lot about his clients. Lately, 90-year-old Nino has been visiting him to talk about the design of her own future tombstone. Petrovich tries to meet the needs of each client and offers them ‘best deals on the market’ while he shares the story of why he took this job.

Letter to a grandchild, between fiction and documentary, is an act of love that repeats itself throughout the history of the world: a grandmother offers advice to her grandchild, ‘Be kind to others, but first and foremost, be kind to yourself.’ Against the backdrop of the idyllic portrait of life among the mountains of Mestia in Georgia.

This short experimental documentary explores the atmosphere of the seaside town of Poti and the Municipal Bureau of Cemetery Maintenance, As the filmmakers interface with a faceless bureaucracy, the film quickly descends into absurdism

In this hybrid documentary Western a female hunter is looking for Dali, a hunting goddess with many powers, especially over men alone in the mountains. Dali is a central figure in the ancient mythology of the Svan people, who live in the Svaneti region of Georgia, along the Greater Caucasian mountains. Whose eyes can see her and what can become visible in a Western frame?

Archili, a seasoned man, once graced the stage as a professional traditional Georgian dancer. As he confronts the realities of aging, he yearns for one final chance to dance, driven by a clandestine desire to reclaim his passion and strength, whatever the cost.

The film is a visual representation of the artist’s first time outside of the United States.

Storeys is set in a traditional Svan tower in Svaneti, a region of Georgia within the Greater Caucasus mountains.

BIOS

Ben Still is a filmmaker. His documentary work has won awards at film festivals, has been featured as a Vimeo Staff Pick, and has received support from The Sundance Institute, The International Documentary Association, Wave Farm, and New York State Council on the Arts. He also makes music videos, which have been featured in Rolling Stone and NPR’s All Songs Considered. He is a founding editor of the collage journal ctrl + v, whose website he designs and maintains, and he was a 2018 – 2019 UnionDocs fellow. His writing has appeared or is forthcoming in The LA Review of Books, The Offing, Landfill, and elsewhere. He holds a PhD in Social Psychology from New York University.

Lorenzo Spinelli is a double three-year degree in History Anthropology and Religions, and in Documentary Cinema at the ‘Centro sperimentale di cinematografia sede Sicilia’, in Palermo. Winner of the Zavattini Prize 2021/22.

Ulyana Toporovskaya is a filmmaker and founder of Qara Film Festival in Kazakhstan. She directed her first documentary film within the Caucasus Cinema program.

Samuli Salonen is an independent filmmaker and he has directed several independent short films which were shown at international film festivals, including DOK Leipzig and Filmfest Dresden to name a few. In his works he investigates critical manhood, questioning the existing social structures and is in search of new perspectives. He is interested in collaborative practices and experimenting with film as a medium.

Salome Berdzenishvili currently pursues her master’s degree in Cultural Anthropology in Sweden. She directed and wrote several short films within the programme of Caucasus Cinema. 

Coralie H. Gourdon, a filmmaker from French Polynesia, explores the creative documentary genre and focuses on transcending boundaries between ‘reality’ and fiction. Her short film “Layla,” made during her studies, won awards and screened at several festivals. Under mentors Ariane Mnouchkine, Werner Herzog and Béla Tarr, she kept exploring new horizons, while directing, “Towards the Sun” “A Magnès” and “Hierro Candente”. Her journey in Georgia, during the first edition of Caucasus Cinema, led her to make several films, including “Archili’s dream”. There, she met Sesilia, who became her ongoing creative collaborator as an editor. She now dedicates her time to completing a short documentary in Egypt, supported by a writing grant from the French National Center for Cinema.

Marcus Jade Demery  is a blues musician, songwriter, and poet, photographer, now filmmaker. Born in Indiana, he began learning guitar at age 14. Around that time, he was also drawn into Indianapolis’s eclectic DIY art and music scene, frequenting house shows and underground venues. His appreciation of a wide variety of music allowed him to gather inspiration from many genres, such as Hip Hop, Metal and Punk, before settling into his own unique style of ragged, heart-wrenching blues-folk. Since moving to New York City, he zeroed in on his love for blues music, and began writing and performing as a solo act and regular presence in the Brooklyn DIY music scene.

Nick Jones is a filmmaker from the UK. He has made over 10 short films and produced many more with his award winning production company: Picture Imperfect. In 2021 Nicholas’ film A Greenlander won Best International short at the academy qualifying American Documentary festival. In 2022 his BFI funded short film – Sweet Little Despair – won Best of the South west at BAFTA qualifying Encounters film festival. 

Sopho Chkheidzé is a director and multimedia storyteller. Graduated from GIPA bachelor’s programme in Audiovisual and Media Art. Directed and produced several short documentary films and multimedia projects.  Screenings at Batumi International Art House Film Festival, Encounters Film Festival (Depict! super-short filmmaking competition), Feminist Film Festival From Rosa to Simone 2023;

Anna Z is an artist, filmmaker and writer living in Berlin.

Sesilia Turdziladze is a Georgian editor based in Budapest, Hungary. Beginning her career editing classical music concerts and image films, Sesilia’s aspiration to work with directors from as many diverse backgrounds as possible has led to her involvement on a wide range of projects, spanning the full range from experimental film to traditional narrative. This pursuit brought her into contact with Coralie H. Gourdon; a meeting which developed into a long-lasting creative collaboration across multiple projects. Sesilia is currently editing her first feature-length documentary film with Canadian director Felix Kalmenson.