Smiling Georgia Luka Beradze
Smiling Georgia Gimiliani Sakartvelo | 2023 | Luka Beradze | 62mins | Documentary | Georgia/Germany | Georgian with English subtitles
What are the costs of the half-truths that politicians tell? In 2012, the Georgian president wanted to make the nation smile. In the race for re-election, the incumbent's party was promising subsidized dental care to the country’s least well off. Across the land, state medical practitioners began removing rotten teeth with the promise of replacements in the months that followed — then the president lost. Through interviews with those worst affected by that campaign, Smiling Georgia is a tragicomedy about life in a remote Georgian village called ‘No Name’.Building toward the 2021 re-election of the Georgian Dream party, who came to power in 2012 and have been in power ever since, Smiling Georgia is also a film about the transience of power, the things politicians will say to keep it, and the people who are always left to pay the bill. It’s also a film of quiet defiance: with or without the politicians’ carelessness, these are a people who never forgot how to smile.
Panel Discussion: 1991 Productions PresentsIncluding an extract from Tear Gas (Tsremlsadeni gazi) Uta Beria's unfinished forthcoming feature film inspired by real events
Uta Beria is a young Georgian film director whose 48min short Ferris Wheel and award-winning first feature Negative Numbers, co-executive produced by 1991 Productions, have been screened in previous London Georgian Film Festivals. Uta is currently working on his second feature Tear Gas. Dedicated to his craft, skilled at drawing authentic performances from young actors, Uta is an undeniable force in the filmmaking landscape of Georgia.
1991 Productions is a Tbilisi-based women-led film production and service company run by Nino Chichua and Anna Khazaradze who recently co-produced Crossing (2024) by Levan Akin, which opened Berlinale Panorama 2024 and won the Teddy Jury Award for Ensemble Cast, and was recently on general release in the UK. As well as Smiling Georgia, 1991 Productions also produced the feature documentary Glory to the Queen, 2020 directed by Tatia Skhirtladze (GE, AT, SRB) which screened at over 25 festivals globally, winning the Best Documentary award in Georgia in 2021, and shown in the 2022 London Georgian Film Festival. The company co-executive produced Uta Beria’s debut feature Negative Numbers, 2019 (GE, FR, IT), screened at Rome Independent Film Festival.Currently, 1991 Productions is working on feature documentary 9-Month Contract, directed by Ketevan Vashagashvili, spotlighted at Cannes Docs and pitched at Sheffield Doc/Fest as The Whickers finalist in 2023. Films in development include feature fiction Tear Gas directed by Uta Beria (funded by GNFC and CNC), feature documentary Berliner directed by Anna Khazaradze (Nipkow 2022, CIRCLE Women Doc Accelerator 2023), and historical miniseries Nino & Iliko (Midpoint 2022).
Nino Chichau graduated from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, with a degree in Film & TV Production and Anna Khazaradze holds a BA in Film and Television from the London College of Communication (UAL). Determined to bring the best practices to their home country’s growing film industry, Nino and Anna moved back to Georgia and started 1991 Productions in 2017.
Tear Gas (extract) Uta Beria
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