Georgian film The Antique, by Rusudan Glurjidze, has been readmitted to the competition of Giornate degli Autori, the independent sidebar of the Venice Film Festival, and will screen on September 6.
Last week, Giornate degli Autori suspended the screening of The Antique, which is majority produced by Georgian company Cinetech.
The suspension came after an emergency decree by the Court of Venice obtained by production companies Viva Film in Russia, Croatia’s Avantura Film and Cyprus’ Pygmalion over a copyright dispute regarding the film’s script.
In a statement, the Giornate degli Autori said it had taken the precaution of suspending the film’s screening, in agreement with the Biennale, in the wake of the emergency decree.
Giornate president Francesco Ranieri Martinotti said: “We never for one second stopped supporting the unalienable rights of the filmmaker Rusudan Glurjidze, that is, the imperative for her film to be shown to audiences in Venice. With this in mind, we decided, with the solidarity of all the filmmakers’ associations, to present a counterclaim to the Court of Venice, engaging a team of lawyers made up of Fabio Moretti, Manuela Molinari, and Giulio Berrino, at the international law firm Castaldipartners, which acted in concert with the attorney Guendalina Ponti, our advisor.
“The Court of Venice ruled in favour of our claim and explicitly authorised the screening, in recognition of the filmmaker’s moral rights. We can say, then, that justice has been served, concerning the cinematic arts, the creatives involved, the Georgian filmmaker Rusudan Glurjidze, and her film itself. Above all, a precedent has also been set for the Venice Film Festival, which will benefit the future of filmmakers everywhere.”
The Giornate said the latest ruling will be explained in a meeting open to the public tomorrow, September 5. Glurjidze, Martinotti, Giornate artistic director Gaia Furrer, and the attorney Fabio Moretti will attend.
According to the Giornate, The Antique is set in 2006 amid the unlawful deportation of thousands of Georgians from Russia. It stars Salome Demuria alongside Sergey Dreyden and Vladimir Vlovichenkov. International sales are handled by Paris-based MPM Premium.
It marks the second feature by Glurjidze who previously said of the film: “It was inspired by real events that caused great distress to my country and me personally. This cruel deportation campaign was aimed exclusively at Georgian citizens. It was the result of an abrupt worsening of already strained political relations between the two countries. In the first few days, 2,680 Georgians were expelled.”
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