We are proud to announce that this year six films commissioned by Chai Khana will be screened at CINÉDOC-TBILISI 2021 as part of the Focus Caucasus competition and the Special Screenings section. 

CinéDOC-Tbilisi was founded in 2013 and is the first international documentary film festival in the South Caucasus that focuses on creative documentaries.  It is also the first film festival in Georgia to be supported by the European Union’s Creative Europe Programme. 

Three films associated with Chai Khana will compete in Focus Caucasus, a competition for the newest documentaries from Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Ten films will compete for the Focus Caucasus Award (7000 GEL) and the Special Jury Award (5000 GEL). All the films in the festival will be screened online during the weekends, followed by moderated online discussions.  

All films will be available online on cinedoc-tbilisi.com/en/yellow-hall

A BUTCHER’S DAUGHTER  by Leyla Ganbarli 

Première at CinéDOC Tbilisi!  

22 August 17:00-21:00

A father is a butcher, a daughter is an artist and filmmaker. After years of hiding his real occupation, a daughter decides to turn her camera towards the father. She wants to understand why once an animal lover and a small village school teacher has become a butcher in the big city of Baku.

The film was also selected as part of the Visions du Réel film market 2021. 

THE DEAD WILL UNDERSTAND by Ana Jegnaradze, Marita Tevzadze 

The National Geographic Society 

22 August 17:00-21:00 

Q&A 21:00 

After Covid-19 reached a small village in Kartli, birds occupied empty schoolyards and only supply trucks traveled the roads. Wall clocks ticked louder. People began to remember what they saw in their dreams at night. The river sparkled more brightly through the village, half-forgotten letters were found. And leaves blossomed on trees planted by people long gone. Doubts, fears and reassurances spilled from the TV news exactly five times a day during the week of Easter. The village had an important decision to make. 

JANE JAN by Merri Mkrtchian

29 August 17:00-21:00 

Q&A 21:00 

As skirmishes and battles fester on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, the author of the film lives and creates with her Azerbaijani friend Aysel. Their friendship is unique because they are citizens of enemy countries. Nobody knows yet that a war will break out in September. Even though they are citizens of bordering countries, they have to travel safe, third countries to meet. They maintain hope – to visit each other’s homelands and never worry about being labeled the “enemy” – despite the situation on the border. The film was prepared in August of 2020. A month later, the ArmenianAzerbaijani war took away their friends. Despite the fierce emotions stirred by the fighting, they continued to stay true to their values and friendship.

THEY WHISPER BUT SOMETIMES SCREAM by Lala Aliyeva 

Goldsmiths, University of London 2020

11 September 17:00-21:00

Q&A 21:00

In the north of Azerbaijan, at a lakeside sanctuary: three trees are adorned with fabrics woven by the women residing in the neighboring village, who would come to ward off their sorrows by making nature their ally. With poignant gentleness, Lala Aliyeva’s camera brings back to life this mirror-like place where women, in the past, were released, at least spiritually from their harsh condition. 

They whisper but sometimes they scream was officially selected for screening at a number of international festivals, including Visions du Réel International Film Festival, Ji.hlava Documentary Film Festival and Sheffield International Documentary Festival. 

All films will be available online on cinedoc-tbilisi.com/en/green-hall

AS FAR AS I CAN WALK by Maka Gogaladze

12 September Q&A 19:00

Locked up at home and alone, director Maka Gogaladze felt that she was part of something bigger. She realized that her constant fear of an uncertain future was no longer hers alone. With a sense that she returned to her childhood, to the 1990s, Maka feels like she can simply go outside and share all her fears and feelings of insecurity with a stranger. There is no need to go far; it seems that the world around her will shrink in 2020. It has become exactly the same as it was in the past – her whole world is still within walking distance from her front door.

ONLINE MOTHER by Ketevan Vashagashvili 

University of Sussex, 2020

12 September Q&A 21:00 

Virtual relations became a part of our reality over the past few decades. The covid-19 pandemic made it especially actual, even painful. Online Mother is a film about the virtual relations in the family, distance, and belonging, mostly caused by poverty in post-Soviet Georgia. After experiencing motherhood online for a year, the author of the film, Ketevan Vashagashvili is returning to her son in Georgia. At the same time, the film explores the stories of four Georgian emigrant mothers who live in different developed countries to earn a living for their families in Georgia. This ‘participatory’ short film is created with the collaboration of mothers who are still desperately waiting for the day they can see their loved ones again.