Due to the pandemic, this year’s Cinéma Vérité will be held entirely online from December 8 to 15.
The film is the Artefact Production in 2019 and has been co-produced by two Georgian filmmakers.
The film was shortlisted for the Hong Kong Film Financing Forum and benefited from support from IDFA's Bertha Fund.
The film has also won several awards from different film festivals including IDFA Forum, Dok Leipzig Co-pro Market, EFM Berlinale, Edinburgh Pitch, Esodoc, EurasiaDoc, CineDoc/PitchDoc as well as Hong Kong - Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF).
The film is about the people who are hard at work extending the railroad in a remote Georgian mountain village. When they're done, the new Silk Road Express will run through here. But before this high-speed connection between China and Europe can go anywhere, a tunnel has to be dug-a tunnel that goes right through a mountain where villagers have their fields and pastures. In his office at the station, an old-time stationmaster prepares for his role in the future, when a lot more trains will be coming through the station. There are promises of prosperity and progress, but in the dreamy atmosphere of the fairy-tale village, the coming of the express train feels more like a nightmare. With the rumbling in the mountain coming ever closer, the villagers look on impotently as the ground fractures and crumbles. Uncertainty is growing, because no one knows whether the houses are going to have to be knocked down or not. Language and communication problems between the Georgian and Chinese workers lead to fierce ...
The festival has several sections including National, International, and Martyr Avini Prize, Entrepreneurship Documentary Competition, Corona Virus Special Section, Side Sections, and commemorations.
In the meantime, several expert workshops, master talks as well as master classes will be held in this international cinematic event.
The national competition section comprises short, mid-length, and feature-length documentaries.
The international section of this edition will be held in a non-competition format due to the spread of coronavirus.
The international section of the festival also enjoys numerous non-competition sections such Special Displays, Mirror of a Festival, Portrait, Perspective of One Country Documentary Cinema, Chile Documentary Cinema, Masters of 2020 as well as 13 Editions & 13 Films.
Due to the spread of Coronavirus, this edition of the festival will be held in online and remote format via utilizing the national platform in the country.
According to the director of the festival Mohammad Hamidi-Moqaddam, so far, 894 films have been submitted to the different sections of the event.
FA/PR