08

Curatorial Research in World Film Archives: Discovering Georgian Cinema

Speaker: Susan Ostoby

May 29, 18:00Frontline Club, 62 Lado Asatiani St.

Susan Ostoby is currently working on a retrospective of contemporary Georgian cinema at BAMPFA. At a DOCA “Peer To Peer” event, she will discuss both this project and the research she conducted in 2014–2015 for the retrospective “Discovering Georgian Cinema,” which was jointly presented by BAMPFA and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York.

07

Early Georgian Soviet Cinema and Models of Femininity

Speaker: Salome Tsopurashvili

April 17, 18:00Goethe-Institut, 16 Zandukeli St.

This summer, Bloomsbury will publish a book by Georgian author Salome Tsopurashvili titled From Victimhood to Empowerment. The book analyzes the representation of women in Georgian Soviet films of the 1920s.

At the event, the author will speak about the content of the book, the writing process, and her sources of inspiration.

06

In Search of a New Language

Speakers: Tatia Dvali – anthropologist/gender researcher, and Rezi Gvaramadze – architect, artist, member of the Materialhunters collective

March 27, 18:00Frontline Club, 62 Lado Asatiani St.

What does it mean to think in a “new language” in everyday life saturated with images and information? Which images matter today, and how should we reflect on meaning, words, and visual representations in the current reality?

The event will feature two speakers who will establish a theoretical framework for the discussion. The second part will be a moderated discussion, offering everyone the opportunity to share their thoughts and engage in collective reflection.

05

Georgian FARA’s Influence on Cultural Organizations

Speaker: Kote Chachibaia, DOCA’s lawyer

April 10, 18:00Goethe-Institut, 16 Zandukeli St

How might a Georgian version of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) affect the cultural sector in Georgia?

The Parliament has adopted a new restrictive law on “foreign influence,” modeled on the American FARA. How will this new law impact the cultural sector, including cinema? To what extent can it be considered analogous to the U.S. law, and through what mechanisms might it be applied to regulate cultural activities?

The discussion at the event will also cover other laws and draft legislation initiated by the Parliament that pertain to the cultural sector.

04

The Impact of New Restrictive Laws on Cinema

Speaker: Kote Chachibaia, DOCA’s lawyer

March 13, 18:00 Goethe-Institut, 16 Zandukeli St.

The package of homophobic laws adopted in Georgia in 2024 has radically worsened the rights and living conditions of LGBTQ+ people. These laws have introduced bans on a wide range of issues related to the LGBTQ+ community, including restrictions on the dissemination of materials deemed to contain so-called “propaganda.”

These restrictions also affect cinema: censorship will apply to films that address themes of sexual orientation and gender identity outside a heteronormative framework.

At the same time, the Parliament of Georgia is working on a new restrictive law on “foreign influence,” which creates additional barriers not only for civil society organizations, but also for online media outlets and individuals.

01

Censorship in Cinema

​A talk by Gogi Gvakharia

Moderated by Salome Asatiani

24 ივნისი, 2024

DOCA invited renowned film critic and journalist Gogi Gvakharia to talk about his collection of essays Censorship in Cinema. 

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Georgia's government plans to legalise censorship. A new bill, which intends "to protect family values", in fact is a way to control over art and creative expression.

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In 2021 Indigo Publication and Ilia State University published a collection of essays Censorship in Cinema, written by art critic, Radio Free Europe / Radio Freedom journalist Gogi Gvakharia. The book bring together cases censorship from the past. However, the book gains value on the backdrop of the discussed bill on protection of family values. 

02

Creative Editing

A talk by Jacopo Quadri

Moderated by Rati Oneli

April 26, 2024

Jacopo Quadri (Milan, 1964) is an award-winning Italian editor. He is a long-time collaborator of Gianfranco Rossi having edited his Below Sea Level, Fuocoammare (Berlinale's Golden Bear) and Sacro GRA (Venice Film Festival Prize Winner). Jacopo has also collaborated with Bernando Bertolucci and was an editor of The Dreamers and Io e Te.

03

The Law on Foreign Agents

A talk by Guro Imnadze and Mariam Gogesashvili

May, 2024

The Law on the Transparency of Foreign Influence creates new challenges for the documentary film industry in Georgia and puts it under risk. 

DOCA invited lawyers Guro Imnadze and Mariam Gogesahsvili to talk about the law, its influence and consequences.

The meeting was only open for DOCA members and partners. 

read our blog on the topic

The Foreign Agents LawThe Parliament of Georgia has already adopted and is introducing laws that will significantly complicate, even endanger our work.

Enforced from August 2024, the foreign agents law (officially the Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence) requires non-commercial organizations and media outlets to register in a special state registry of “organizations bearing the interests of a foreign power” if at least 20% their income comes from foreign sources. For refusal to register, excessively high fines will be applied.

The law authorizes the Ministry of Justice to monitor and request any kind of information, including personal data, from civil society and media organizations, any time on the basis of a decision of a state official or based on an anonymous letter/notification by anyone.

The legislation bears similarities to the laws currently in effect in Russia and Belarus.

The law poses a threat to the work of DOCA, similar to most civil society organizations in Georgia, classifying them as "agents of a foreign country". Some production companies, that are registered as non-commercial entities, might also be labeled so.