London Georgian Film Festival

London Georgian Film Festival 2023 Reflections On The Black Sea

Ciné Lumière 28th September - 3rd October Georgia - Romania - Turkey - Ukraine

Reflections On The Black Sea

Nearly 3000 years ago the ancient Greeks conquered the Black Sea and colonised the coastline as far as Georgia, the end of their known world. Today the Black Sea has witnessed the invasion of Ukraine, and the sunken Russian flagship Moskva will join the ancient shipwrecks still eerily preserved in the layer of stagnant oxygen-less water far below the busy waterways on the crossroads of East and West.
The 2023 London Georgian Film Festival will cast a spotlight on the Black Sea and tell the stories of the surrounding nations through World cinema. With special sections From Ukraine and Emerging Directors this is a rare chance to see recent and classic films from Georgia, Romania, Turkey and Ukraine hardly shown in the UK, screened at Ciné Lumière, London’s leading arthouse cinema.

Opening Film

The Self Seeker Shkurnik|1929|Mykola Shpykovskyi|79mins|UkraineIntroduced by Heather Stewart BFI Creative Director and Head of the Archive 2011-2021 Live piano accompaniment by John SweeneyFirst UK cinematic screening A brilliant satirical film about an easy-going Kyiv opportunist caught between the Red Army, the White forces and local bandits as he tries to avoid the 1917-1921 civil war with a miraculous camel. The film was banned by the Soviet authorities a week after it was first screened but finally rediscovered and restored in 2012 by the Dovshenko National Film Studios. This will be the first UK cinematic screening 28th September 2023 7.15pm

Closing Film

A Room Of My Own Chemi otakhi|2022|Ioseb ‘Soso’Bliadze|107mins|Georgia/Germany|Q&A with Mariam Khundadze
This international festival hit is an intimate film sensitively directed by Bliadze about two contrasting young women brought together in a flat share in Tbilisi during covid, with captivating performances by Taki Mumladze and Marika Khundadze. Tina (Mumladze) has left an abusive marriage and is trying to find an apartment with her new boyfriend. As she awaits news of her boyfriend she moves in with hard-partying Megi (Khundadze), who is determined to enjoy life to the fullest before moving to New York. As Tina struggles to find her independence, she and Megi form a close bond which neither woman anticipated. Co-written by director Bliadze and Mumladze a picture of modern womanhood and female intimacy warmly emerges. 3rd October 2023 8.00pm
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