Georgian drama The Antique by Rusudan Glurjidze has been suspended from screening in Giornate degli Autori, the independent sidebar of the Venice Film Festival, following a court ruling over copyright dispute.
A press and industry screening scheduled for today (August 28) has been pulled and public screenings that were due to take place today, August 30 and September 6 have been removed from the line-up.
It follows 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.
A statement from Giornate degli Autori said the court order does not clearly bar the screening of the film but that it had prompted it to suspend showing The Antique, in agreement with the Biennale, “for now”.
“We believe, in the very spirit of Giornate degli Autori, that our chief duty, shared with the Italian filmmakers’ associations that promote our showcase, is the defense of the auteur’s rights, hence the defense of the filmmaker Rusudan Glurjidze, present in Venice,” said the statement.
“We feel that the decision of the judge at the Court of Venice must be taken into serious consideration, pending further developments. That said, we will do everything will be in our power, in observance of the law but as well as the freedom of expression of the filmmaker, to support the existence of the work itself and its visibility in Venice over the coming days.”
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 and is produced by Georgia’s Cinetech. International sales are handles 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.”
Glurjidze’s debut feature was House Of Others, which premiered at Karlovy Vary in 2016 where it won the East of the West competition, and was Georgia’s submission for the 89th Academy Awards.
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