Georgian Cinema Now: Part 1
September 23–October 2, 2026
A delegation of nine Georgian independent filmmakers and experts visits Berkeley for ten days in late September for a festival-like launch to this ongoing retrospective planned for 2026–27. Guest presenters will offer invaluable insights into the creative flourishing of contemporary Georgian cinema and the challenges filmmakers face.
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Salomé Jashi: Taming the Garden, 2021
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Nino Orjonikidze and Vano Arsenishvili: A Tunnel, 2019
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Levan Akin: Crossing, 2024
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Anka Gujabidze: Temo Re, 2025
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Elene Naveriani: Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry, 2023
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Anna Dziapshipa: Self-Portrait Along the Borderline, 2023
- Upcoming
Films - Past
Films - Past
Events
Upcoming Films
It Will Be Better Before and Temo Re
Wednesday, September 23, 7 PMKeto Kipiani, Anka Gujabidze, Salomé Asatiani, and Anna Dziapshipa in ConversationView DetailsKeto Kipiani’s It Will Be Better Before revisits images filmed five years earlier and begins a new correspondence with her then-codirector, Nicolas Kunisz. Temo Re, Anka Gujabidze’s poignant photo adventure shot in Tbilisi, reveals the rough edges of urban life and moments of beauty.
Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry
Elene Naveriani
Georgia, Switzerland, 2023Thursday, September 24, 7 PMElene Naveriani, Salomé Asatiani, and Salomé Jashi in ConversationView Details“A near-death experience sparks an existential and sexual awakening for taciturn shop owner Etero in Elene Naveriani’s enchanting film” (Arjun Sajip, Sight and Sound).
A Tunnel
Nino Orjonikidze, Vano Arsenishvili
Georgia, Germany, 2019Friday, September 25, 3 PMNino Orjonikidze, Vano Arsenishvili, and Susan Oxtoby in ConversationView DetailsAn old railway platform in a remote valley of Georgia suddenly becomes a site for change in this wonderful documentary about the New Silk Road, a high-speed rail development project between China and Europe.
Taming the Garden
Salomé Jashi
Georgia, Switzerland, Germany, 2021Friday, September 25, 7 PMSalomé Jashi and Elene Naveriani in ConversationView DetailsThe opening shot of this striking environmental tale captures a tree as tall as a fifteen-story building floating on a barge across the vast Black Sea. Its destination lies in a garden countless miles away, privately owned by a wealthy and anonymous man.
Georgian Cinema Now Symposium—Activism in Authoritarian Times: The Republic of Georgia as a Case Study
Free admission and open to the public.
Copresented by BAMPFA and the Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies at UC Berkeley.Saturday, September 26, 11:30 AM–5 PMView DetailsThis symposium is timed with the launch of BAMPFA’s series Georgian Cinema Now. Presentations by visiting Georgian artists and experts will offer greater context and insights into the current situation for independent filmmakers and journalists working in Georgia today.
Crossing
Levan Akin
Georgia, Sweden, Turkey, Denmark, France, 2024Saturday, September 26, 7:30 PMView DetailsA Georgian woman heads to Istanbul in search of her estranged trans niece in this elegant, politically resonant feature from Swedish Georgian director Levan Akin.
English Teacher and Bakhmaro 2050
Sunday, September 27, 1:30 PMNino Orjonikidze, Vano Arsenishvili, Anka Gujabidze, and Susan Oxtoby in ConversationView DetailsThese two creative documentaries that ruminate on issues facing Georgian society are both set far from city life. English Teacher presents the challenges of the “linguistic revolution” initiative, while Bakhmaro 2050 is a meditation on the encroaching commercial development in a mountainous resort town.
An Incomplete Day in the History of Georgia 10.06.93.
Salomé Jashi
Georgia, 2026Sunday, September 27, 4:30 PMSalomé Jashi in PersonView DetailsArchival video documentation from a 1993 parliamentary session related to the introduction of the Georgian coupon, a national currency to replace the Russian ruble, offers a history lesson in the sometimes fleeting nature of democracy.
Self-Portrait Along the Borderline
Anna Dziapshipa
Georgia, 2023Wednesday, September 30, 7 PMAnna Dziapshipa, Salomé Asatiani, Anka Gujabidze, and Susan Oxtoby in ConversationView DetailsAnna Dziapshipa was born of the union between an Abkhazian man and a Georgian woman. In Self-Portrait Along the Borderline, she skillfully weaves together unique archives and fragments to offer a personal and political biography of Georgia–Abkhazia relations. With Dziapshipa’s shorts Contemplation and Dear Dirty Tbilisi.
Wet Sand
Elene Naveriani
Georgia, Switzerland, 2021Friday, October 2, 7 PMElene Naveriani in PersonView Details“Set against the backdrop of church-sanctioned, far-right political protests attacking LGBTQ anti-discrimination laws, director/cowriter [Elene] Naveriani works steadfastly to break the cycle through a collective reckoning that simultaneously destroys and creates” (SFFILM).
Upcoming Events
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Saturday, September 26, 2026, 11:30 AMGeorgian Cinema Now Symposium—Activism in Authoritarian Times: The Republic of Georgia as a Case Study
This symposium is timed with the launch of BAMPFA’s series Georgian Cinema Now. Presentations by visiting Georgian artists and experts will offer greater context and insights into the current situation for independent filmmakers and journalists working in Georgia today.
Free admission and open to the public.
Copresented by BAMPFA and the Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies at UC Berkeley.