The Pipeline Next Door by Nino Kirtadze explores the construction of the "New Silk Road," specifically focusing on the "Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan" pipeline in Borjomi Gorge. During the groundbreaking ceremony in 2002, it was hailed as the most expensive and extensive project globally. The documentary illustrates how major global corporations intrude into the daily lives of residents in the peripheries of transit countries, establishing new focal points of conflict. The inhabitants of Sakire village in Borjomi municipality find themselves in conflict with the interests of a substantial international corporation (BP) and the dynamics of transnational capital, witnessing the initial stages of the monetization of nature. The film is considered a foundational work in the emerging tradition of Georgian ecological cinema (Ecocinema).

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Q&A with filmmaker Nino Kirtadze

29.01.2024   19:00

​Georgia ranks third globally in Bitcoin exports, necessitating a massive energy resource for cryptocurrency production. The Harvest by Misho Antadze, set against the seemingly idyllic landscapes of Kakheti, portrays spatial and functional conflicts: juxtaposing high technologies with the ruins of former farms and the clash between the Internet economy and ancient farming practices. This visually compelling work delves into the quiet yet potent exploration of the digital currency craze, shedding light on its environmental impact and resource consumption. What is gained here doesn't stay here.

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Special guest: Ia Eradze, researcher of the economic trends

English Teacher by Nino Orjonikidze and Vano Arsenishvili serves as a commentary on the initiative of then-president Mikheil Saakashvili to introduce foreign English teachers, aiming for a "linguistic revolution" in Georgia. This effort reflects another instance of rapid modernization that doesn't align with the reality of Georgia's periphery.

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Q&A with filmmakers Nino Orjonikidze & Vano Arsenishvili

In the film, Chiathura, with its ghostly industrial past, is juxtaposed against a backdrop of collapsed infrastructures. However, whether in the era of communist utopia or today, the life force of the city lies within its inhabitants. The film portrays the diverse and complex lives of those who remain in Chiatura, revealing their unyielding and stoic nature amidst the ruins of past political and social systems.

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Q&A with filmmaker Rati Oneli

​​The film depicts one of the most precarious periods in Georgian democracy. In August 2008, against the backdrop of presidential elections, hostilities erupted in South Ossetia, leading to a renewed invasion of Georgian territories by the Russian army. The intimate portrayal of then-president Mikheil Saakashvili paints a harrowing picture of political and personal powerlessness. The August War, characterized as an unseen conflict on the periphery of Eastern Europe, becomes a memory etched by the documentary camera on the faces and spaces of war, serving as an archive of Russia's imperial nature.

A HOUSE LEFT IN A DREAM

Dir. Anna Dziapshipa

2021 / 8' / Georgia

THE TOWER

Dir. Salomé Jashi

2018 / 4' / Georgia

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MY HOUSE FROM ABOVE

Dir. Keti Gigashvili

2018 / 18' / Georgia

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The program of short documentaries unites three exceptional authors and works that approach the theme of war and memory from seemingly different angles. All three films share the idea of exploring the intersections of memory, imaginary spaces, and trauma. In these works, the intimate spatial objects lost as a result of war and displacement undergo the process of virtual or physical measurement, transforming it into a collective, inter-generational, reconstructive act.