take a look at what Documentary Association Georgia

has been up to in the last months

July 2024

Times have been bouncy in the last months in Georgia. The Parliament has passed the foreign agents law similar to the one in Russia. Our government is turning its back to democracy. Georgia's accession to the EU has been halted.

All of this influences Georgia's documentary filmmaking scene and hinders the operation of Documentary Association Georgia. We try to counter this setback and continue to work for the professional interests of documentary filmmakers in the country.

DOCA Georgia delegation at IDFA 2024

We are happy that at IDFA, the largest documentary film festival in the world, DOCA will organize a delegation of both young talents and established filmmakers from Georgia. You'll probably run into them if you are in Amsterdam between November 14-24.

The delegation is made possible with the generous donation from the citizens of Hamburg (Dr. Helmut Büchel and others) and Alfred Toepfer Foundation as well as the support from IMS & New Democracy Fund and USAID Civil Society Engagement Program

DOCA Production Awards 2024

In June, at CinéDOC Film Mentoring Program, DOCA Georgia gave out three cash awards to Georgian documentary film projects in making.

● 10 000 GEL / 3 300 EUR human rights award to Sacred Songs directed by Nona Giunashvili and Mariam Bitsadze

● 7 000 GEL / 2 500 EUR to This Is Not My Sea directed by Elena Mikaberidze

● 7 000 GEL / 2 500 EUR to El Dorado directed by Rati Oneli

The decision on the awards was made by the Film Mentoring Program's international jury composed of Gitte Hansen, Phil Jandaly and Tue Steen Müller. This is the second year of DOCA's partnership with CinéDOC Film Mentoring Program.

The awards were made possible with the support from our partners Human Rights House Tbilisi & Embassy of the Netherlands in Georgia, IMS & New Democracy Fund

DOCA Film Club

Each Monday at 7 pm, at Amirani Cinema, DOCA Film Club offers creative documentaries to the audiences. Films are curated into thematic programs and are followed by talks in an 80-seat-capacity screening room. All films are subtitles in Georgian and English.

Blossom was the major curated program running through the whole Spring, offering films on female emancipation, queerness and sexuality.

As a response to the mass protests against the so-called Russian Law (Law on the Transparency of Foreign Influence), DOCA Film Club, in partnership with Kinedok Georgia, set up a spontaneous program What Happened in Russia to reflect on the political tendencies in Georgia in relation to Russia. Part of the program is screened around the country this summer, followed by discussions.

DOCA Film Club is made possible with the support from Human Rights House Tbilisi & Embassy of The Netherlands in Georgia, EWMI & USAID, Danish Cultural Institute in Georgia, in partnership with CinéDOC, Kinedok Georgia, Tbilisi International Film Festival

Peer to Peer Talks

Situated in a beautiful old Tbilisi-style yard of National Trust of Georgia, DOCA hosts Peer to Peer talks for film professionals and film enthusiasts. Recent highlights include:

● Censorship in Cinema - a talk by Gogi Gvakharia, moderated by Salome Asatiani

● Creative Editing - with Jacopo Quadri, moderated by Rati Oneli

The Peer to Peer talks are made possible with the support from IMS & New Democracy Fund

Close Up Networking Reception

On June 4, DOCA Georgia hosted a networking reception which brought Close Up workshop participants, mentors and the program team together with the Georgian documentary film scene. It was a beautiful evening to sip wine and mingle, chat and kindle.

For the second year now the final session of the Close Up Initiative is held in Tbilisi.

The networking reception was made possible through the support from Human Rights House Tbilisi, IMS & New Democracy Fund

The Foreign Agents Law

The 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.

Read a blog by filmmaker Salomé Jashi to learn more.

The Bill on Protection of Family Values

Another sign of a drastic decline in Georgia’s democracy is a proposed package of bills on the Protection of Family Values and Minors, approved by the Georgian Parliament in the 1st hearing in June 2024 (the draft law has to be adopted in three hearings).

Under this legislation, if passed, any information aimed at “promoting the identification of a person with a different sex and same-sex relations” will be banned from broadcasting. The law will restrict freedom of expression as well as freedom of assembly if this measure is in line with "the protection of family values ​​and minors".

We at DOCA strongly denounce this law as homophobic and see it as the first legal step to censor cinema, other forms of art and media. 

Coming Up Next in 2024

● A study of Georgian documentaries from the 1990s and 2000s and a complementary film program at DOCA Film Club. Conducted by Lika Glurjidze and Luka Bedoshvili.

● The Mapping of Georgian Documentary Film Industry of the recent years. Conducted by Center of Media Information and Social Research (CMISR), with analysis of legal framework conducted by Natia Tavberidze 

● DOCA Film Club autumn program in collaboration with Tbilisi Architecture Biennial

Made possible with the support of Europe Foundation and USAID Civil Society Engagement Program

About DOCA Georgia