Venice Days, an independent sidebar of the Venice Film Festival, has “suspended” screenings of Georgian filmmaker Rusudan Glurjidze’s second feature film “Antikvariati” (The Antique).
Sidebar organizers have canceled the press and industry screening scheduled for August 28 and the public screenings have been removed from the schedule.
The move follows an emergency decree from the Court of Venice obtained by three production companies – Viva Film in Russia, Avantura Film in Croatia and Pygmalion in Cyprus – over a copyright dispute over the film’s script, according to a statement from Venice Days.
In its statement, Venice Days – also known as Giornate degli Autori – said: “We believe, in the spirit of Giornate degli Autori, that our main task, shared with the Italian filmmaker associations that promote our showcase, is the defense of copyright, hence the defense of the filmmaker Rusudan Glurjidze, present in Venice. We also believe that the decision of the judge of the Court of Venice should be seriously considered, pending further developments.
“That said, we will do everything in our power, while respecting the law and the filmmaker’s freedom of expression, to support the existence of the work itself and its visibility in Venice in the coming days. ”
It remains unclear what this ‘visibility’ could mean in a practical sense.
‘The Antique’ is set in Russia about 18 years ago and is about the deportation of thousands of Georgians from the country at the time. Sources close to the film report this Variety that the Russian government may have wished to exclude the film from consideration due to its subject matter.
According to Glurjidze, “The Antique” was possibly the last film shot in Russia by foreign filmmakers, and was completed despite great difficulties.
“Initially the problems started when the Russian Ministry of Culture demanded the removal of several scenes. The Georgian team refused, leading to attempts to obstruct the filming and ultimately to the seizure of the footage at the border,” she said. “Fortunately, two copies have been preserved. After this they started blocking the film.”
Glurjidze’s debut feature, ‘House of Others’, premiered in the East of the West competition at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival in 2016, winning the Grand Prix and becoming Georgia’s nominee for the 89th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film .
She noted: “In my previous work, I have ventured into Georgia’s complex political landscape, shedding light on themes that often remain hidden in Western Europe. ‘The House of Others’ delves into the terrifying aftermath of the 1992-1993 war in Abkhazia and examines the fractured lives of two families against a backdrop of conflict.
“’The Antique’ brutally portrays the brutal and unlawful deportation of my countrymen, encapsulated in the lives of four central figures: Medea, Vadim Vadimich, Lado and Peter. Like “The House of Others,” this film interweaves fiction with grim reality, subtly yet powerfully addressing the complicated and often painful reality of immigration while providing a raw portrayal of Russia’s imperial brutality. ‘
Salome Demiura, Sergey Dreyden and Vladimir Vlovichenkov lead the cast.
The producers are Zurab Magalashvili, Manana Shevardnadze, Andrey Epifanov, Tanya Petrik, Jussi Myllyniemi, Uschi Feldges, Ansgar Frerich, Eva Kemme and Tatiana Detlofson.
The leading production company is Cinetech. The co-production companies are Cinetrain, Whitepoint Digital and Basis Berlin Filmproduction. MPM Premium owns the international sales rights to the film.
