US Director David Lynch Visits Georgia
By Tea Mariamidze
Tuesday, November 21
(TBILISI) -- David Lynch, a widely-known American director, producer and actor, is paying a four-day visit to Georgia to meet with academics and representatives of the nation’s government.
The trip is his first visi tto Georgia and his arrival is linked to the David Lynch Foundation in the South Caucasus, established in July in Tbilisi.
Lynch and members from his foundation visited the Georgian Parliament on Sunday for meetings with Mariam Jashi, Chairwoman of the Education, Science and Culture Committee, as well as the Ministers of culture and education, Mikheil Giorgadze and Mikheil Chkhenkeli.
Lynch was briefed on the history of Georgian cinema and discussed the possibility of establishing a new film school in Georgia.
“It is very important that we go out of our way to introduce Georgian culture and traditions to David Lynch… I do hope that after this visit he will become Georgia’s ambassador in Hollywood,” she added.
On Monday Lynch and his delegation held a press-conference in Tbilisi with the Director of David Lynch Foundation, Giorgi Agladze, and confirmed that negotiations were underway to open an internationally recognized film academy.
“Georgia has all of the resources necessary to host a university that will be beneficial not only for its own citizens, but for students from neighboring countries,” Agladze said.
When asked about his visit in Georgia, Lynch commented that he enjoyed his time, saying “Tbilisi has wonderful architecture and the people are also very friendly. I feel at home here.”
The South Caucasus branch of the David Lynch Foundation covers Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia and promotes the use of Transcendental Meditation as a means to prevent trauma and stress in at-risk populations.
Since opening in 2005, the Foundation has helped to bring the stress-reducing Transcendental Meditation technique to more than 500,000 children and adults around the world.
