Great festival and experience! Mestia International Short and Mountain Film Festival is celebrating a 5 years jubilee

Mestia FF is now an official member of the International Alliance for Mountain Film! And this is a great achievement!

 

Festival director Khatuna Khundadze is announcing many highlights and surprises for the upcoming edition July 28 to August 3.

The festival will start with the festive opening ceremony and the screening of the first mountain themed film in competition by Shalva Shengeli from the host country Georgia. Films from an impressive number of 16 countries are announced on the festival's website www.mestiaff.com . 

 

President of the jury is Georgian filmmaker Rusudan Glurjidze, who represented last May together with Khundadze their country as panelists at the World Woman Cannes Agenda, a 2-days conference hosted by the World Woman Foundation during the Festival de Cannes empowering women in the film industry. A screening of her latest film "The Antique" premiered last September at Venice International Film Festival, submitted by the Georgian Film Academy to represent Georgia at the 97th Academy Awards known as "The Oscars", will close the festival after the award ceremony on August 3.

 

With her in the international jury for mountain themed films will be documentary director Michael Chauvistré (member of the board of the German Directors Guild), Italian director Roberto Zazzara (I met him last year in Brașov/Romania at the Alpin Film Festival where his film "Carne et Ossa" was screened as part of the competition) the French producer François d'Artemarre (The Visitors, Made in Bangladesh..) and Georgian filmmaker Giorgi Kharebava.

 

One of the highlights of the festival will be the masterclass about immersive art and traditional filmmaking by special guest of the film festival Elie Levasseur, Head of Immersive Competition Festival de Cannes. The Immersive Competition is the Festival de Cannes’ latest Official Selection, spotlighting the next generation of international artists who are redefining storytelling through immersive art.

 

This is the very first festival to represent the mountain themed (full length) films in Georgia. Last year Khatuna Khundadze made it possible and brought mountaineer Reinhold Messner to the festival. An unique opportunity for the festival guests aswell as tourists to get to know a legend and address their questions to this unicorn of the mountains.

 

It is, also, noteworthy, that Georgia isn’t distinguished by the abundance of short film festivals, it’s all combined together with the mountain themed films at Mestia International Short & Mountain Film Festival what makes this film festival so special. 

 

And of course the town itself is worth a visit, Mestia! With 1.500 m above the sea, surrounded by the Caucasus Mountains, best view for the filmmakers and the guests of the festival is guaranteed from the venue of the film festival, the Mestia Center of Culture and Arts, where the festival takes place.

 

The festival program consists of 4 sections:

1. International Section of Shorts

2. International section of mountain themed films (full-length).

3. Retrospective of Georgian short films

4. Special Section

 

The Mestia International Short and Mountain Film Festival was founded by filmmaker/producer Khatuna Khundadze in 2021 with the support of the city of Mestia.

 

The main trophee, the Mikheil Khergiani Prize is dedicated to the Georgian mountaineer Mikheil Khergiani. He was a seven-time national champion climber who earned the nickname the "Tiger of the Cliffs" for his ability to rapidly attack difficult routes. The tiger of the new generation of mountaineers, Archil Badriashvili I had the chance to meet last year. An extremely succesful mountaineer, a Piolet d'Or awardee, but such a modest young man...Archil is no longer with us, he was hit by a stroke while he was climbing the mountains, shortly after the Mestia FF. A stamp is meanwhile dedicated to him, aswell as to Mikheil and two other Georgian climbers: Guram Tikamatze and last but not least to a woman. Aleksandra Japaridze. did about 100 climbs in the Caucasus range, was one of the founders of the Georgian Alpine Club. She climbed almost all the major peaks of the Caucasus and was the first woman to set foot on the Georgian mountains Tetnuldi and Ushba. During her life she won every prize given for mountain-climbing and also taught her craft to generations of young climbers. Thanks to Khatuna's initiative these 4 stamps are now introduced to the public and also decorating the festival's poster.

 

 

Georgian films have always been praised for their film scores, the reason why the founders have decided to award a special prize for best film score.

 

Not many film festivals celebrate production designers with a special prize. In Mestia they do! Khatuna Khundadze: "We are proud to announce that the Mestia International Festival is an exception—yes, we do feature the Award for Best Production Design!"

 

Festival venue

The capacity of the Mestia Center of Culture and Arts is 180 seats, and the building’s veranda can host almost 500 guests. The breathtaking views from the veranda are meant to inspire you to start making movies yourself!

See you in Mestia!