Half Eaten Cow

Georgia’s former prime minister has found a unique hobby. He collects century-old trees, some as tall as 15-story buildings, from communities along the Georgian coast. At a great expense and inconvenience, these ancient giants are uprooted from their lands to be transplanted in his private garden.

Flanked by her phlegmatic sidekick, Dariko is the only outside broadcast journalist at a local Georgian television channel. With derisory resources, she races from one report to another to give an honest, if not objective, image of the current events that shape her environment.

Derived solely from video recordings of Georgian parliamentary proceedings on June 10, 1993, when Eduard Shevardnadze was the head of state, An Incomplete Day in the History of Georgia presents the debate surrounding the introduction of Georgia’s national currency coupon to replace the Russian ruble. Members of parliament voice their concerns from the floor, questioning the resolutions presented by the vice prime minister and president of the National Bank. How should the country’s leaders proceed in light of domestic challenges such as starvation, fuel shortages, budget shortfalls, and rapid inflation? Viewed with hindsight, this document from the early days of Georgian independence reminds us how fragile the democratic process can be.

In the Georgian city of Kutaisi, a local women’s football team constitutes the heart of a group of female and non-binary queer people, who get together regularly to hang out, to party, to hug each other, and to discuss existential issues. Their gatherings provide a cozy, safe space for these young people in a society that’s not known for embracing its LGBTQ+ community. Discrimination, exclusion, and violence are part of the daily reality for these sports enthusiasts and their friends, whether on the streets or, in some cases, within the family. When they’re together, they find the love, warmth, and safety they need to fully be themselves.

"The leader is always right" is the rule number one in the Patriotic Camps in Georgia, established in 2005. The camps have been attended by hundreds of thousands of teenagers and has been personally supported by Georgia's former president Mikheil Saakashvili. The programme here is clear: to cultivate a "love of the nation" among the youth. Uniforms with the Georgian state symbol, flags on the cabins, and ideological slogans - all remind each boy and girl of the troubled past of their country and motivate for vengeance. A stark future is outlined when the children leave the camp with a clear idea of what "patriotism" means.

This German documentary looks inside a nearly idle restaurant in a dowdy building in the country of Georgia, its listless workers waiting for business to pick up. The mournful atmosphere serves as a metaphor for the uncertain future of Georgia.

The 2008 Georgian War resulted in the deaths of several hundred people and expulsion of tens of thousands from South Ossetia. Is there a way to show the tragedy of families that lost their loved ones, thousands of people forced to leave their homes, soldiers doing the fighting, and children who cannot comprehend the situation? Salomé Jashi answers this question in a way that leaves few apathetic, though the horrors of war are never visible on the screen. Her short film is based on an interesting formula of making the audience witness to a tragedy it never sees.

Financial pyramids have been a consistent feature in Georgia’s recent history. State banks, private lenders and construction companies have all taken money from people with the promise of future profit. But in most cases, the money has simply disappeared. The film shows the latest cycle of financial naivety–as well as society’s desperate attempts to earn money fast, even if very strange methods were needed. The film was shot in Javakheti, a southern region of Georgia on the border with Armenia and Turkey that is mostly populated by ethnic Armenians.

Bakur Kvezereli is 27 years old. He leads the Georgian ministry of agriculture and is the youngest minister in the government of Saakashvili. He says that there is nothing he dislikes about himself. Filmed in 2008, right after the Georgia-Russia war, the film is a short insight into the government of Georgia.

This is a gentle and slightly absurdist documentary about the Ardoteli family in the mountains of Georgia who discovered that a Chechen helicopter carrying cheese had crashed by their house. Dropped into the life of this family, a helicopter is gradually enfolded into their daily rhythms, transformed into something utterly unexpected. In this land free of electric cables, cows find a shelter and children set up their private playground in it. Patient observations through the rusted “eyes” of this helicopter unfold a story of a remote place exposed to just one piece of civilization.