Docs on the Spot

In its 18th edition, Doclisboa will present a retrospective dedicated to Georgian cinema, mapping its production from the 1920s to the present. Doclisboa will be presented in six modules this year, over six months, and unveils this retrospective as the centre of the programme of the festival’s first module, which will run from October 22 to November 1. Taking place at the Cinemateca Portuguesa - Museu do Cinema, the retrospective will explore the variety and complexity of this country’s cinema, creating a relationship between the past and the present to build a temporal mosaic from the era of silent film to the new productions of recent years. The program features newly restored copies of films by compelling authors such as Mikhail Kalatozov and Serguei Paradjanov, among others, as well as contemporary filmmakers including Otar Iosseliani, Lana Gogoberidze and more. This preservation process results from the agreement between Georgia and Russia for the return to Tbilisi of the Georgian cinematographic heritage from the Soviet period, promoted and organized by the Georgian National Film Center.
 
Close to celebrating three decades of independence, Georgia has always, in its long existence, been marked by human and cultural diversity. Georgian specificity, resulting from this diversity, culminates in a cinema based on an enviable tradition of social and artistic relevance. Doclisboa proposes the rediscovery of surprising works like My Grandmother (1929), a surreal satire of the bureaucracy of the young Soviet state by actor-director Kote Mikaberidze, or Alaverdoba (1962), an ambiguous anti-religious libel by Guiorgui Chenguelaia. This retrospective, curated by Marcelo Félix, maps a century of film production in Georgia, presenting the most diverse artistic expressions and thematic concerns, from surrealist explorations and lyrical representations of the Caucasus mountains, to neo-realistic social studies.
 
In 2020, Georgia is also the guest country of Nebulae, Doclisboa's industry program, with a series of activities that will highlight contemporary Georgian cinema. In October, Georgian cinema will be present in Lisbon for a journey between the past, present and future.