Georgian Movie Wins at Locarno Film Festival
By Mariam Chanishvili
Wednesday, August 16
Georgian filmmaker Ana Urushadze was awarded first prize with her debut feature film Scary Mother in the Filmmakers of the Present section at the 70th Locarno Festival.
The film was co-produced by Allfilm (Estonia). The film was featured at the Concorso Cineasti del presente competition section of the festival. The award ceremony was held on August 12.
The 70th edition of the Locarno Festival was held from August 2 to August 12, 2017. The event is an annual film festival held every August in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded in 1946, it is one of the longest-running film festivals, and is also known for being one of the world's most prestigious platforms for art house films.
The festival screens films in various competitive and non-competitive sections, including feature-length narrative and documentary, short, avant-garde, and retrospective programs.
Movie is about a 50-year-old housewife, Manana, who struggles with her dilemma – she has to choose between her family life and her passion, writing, which she had repressed for years. Eventually, she decides to follow her passion and gets all into writing, sacrificing everything for it.
“With her debut film, Sashishi deda (Scary Mother), the Georgian director Ana Urushadze demonstrates that she possesses surprisingly mature clarity of storytelling and a mastery of vision”, commented Adriano Ercolani, a film critic.
In the interview with Cineuropa, Urushadze mentioned that the inspiration for the film came from her family.
“My sister is a writer. My grandmother also wanted to be a director but then she decided to follow a different profession. So, the main theme of self-realisation was already around me, affecting me,” said Urushadze.
The cast included Nato Murvanidze, Avtandil Makharadze, Ramaz Ioseliani, etc.
“The cast was amazing; Nato Murvanidze is so unique. I was very lucky to work with my crew and I have to thank them for helping me make this film,” said Urushadze.
The director mentioned that she is already working on a new script.
