TBILISI (Georgia)

Presentation:  30.11 -03.12.2013 

Participants: Maciej Drygas, Jacek Bławut, Mirosław Dembiński, Mirosława Dembińska, Paweł Łoziński, Katarzyna Boniecka, Mateusz Werner, Victoria Ogneva

The project’s creators Maciej Drygas and Mirosław Dembiński; the leader of the tutor group, Paweł Łoziński; editor Katarzyna Boniecka; production manager Victoria Ogneva; and also Jacek Bławut and Mateusz Werner all went to Tbilisi. They were accompanied by the director of Belsat TV, Agnieszka Romaszewska-Guzy, and Belsat TV journalist, Aleksiej Dzikaviecki. On the first day of our stay (1 December 2013) there was a meeting of the Polish team at the offices of the private TV station Imedi with the director of the documentary department, during which Mirosław Dembiński talked about the project “The World from Dawn till Dusk” suggesting that the film cycle be broadcast in Imedi TV’s documentary schedule. Director Romaszewska-Guzy put forward the offer of collaboration between Belsat and Imedi based on exchanging news materials and documentary productions. The Georgian side declared great interest in the idea. In the afternoon, the films “Chisinău from Dawn till Dusk” and “Yerevan from Dawn till Dusk” were screened in the projection room of the National Library for the participants of the Tbilisi workshops, chiefly students of TAFU (Shota Rustaveli Theatre and Film Georgia State University) plus invited guests. Taking part in the discussion were also TAFU professors: Otar Litanishvili and Dato Janelidze, the Dean of the Cinematography Faculty. The most frequently asked question concerned the sombre tone of the films. It was asked whether the idea came about during the edit. Jacek Bławut took issue with these questions, rejecting accusations that the films had pessimistic overtones. In the evening they were invited by TAFU’s Cinematography Faculty to an official welcome supper, during which the main subject was of course recollections from the summer workshops and impressions from the films that had just been watched. The following afternoon there was a premiere screening of “Tbilisi from Dawn till Dusk” for a TAFU audience. The audience’s emotional reaction meant the discussion was much shorter than it had been the previous day, although Maciej Drygas bent over backwards to stimulate a longer exchange of opinions. The film’s final cut met with a tremendous reception from the workshops’ participants. In the evening the Polish delegation took part in the official opening of the Tbilisi International Film Festival, during which Mateusz Werner, one of the project’s tutors, was a member of the jury. The following day the official premiere of “Tbilisi from Dawn till Dusk” took place in the Amirani Cinema, during the festival’s evening screening, to an almost full house of around 500. The screening was opened by the Polish Ambassador to Georgia, Andrzej Cieszkowski, and Mirosław Dembiński. After the screening all the workshop participants and the entire Polish group were invited to the official banquet by Nana Janelidze, the Director of the Georgian National Film Center.