TBILISI: Ten Georgian long and short documentaries received 150,000 EUR / 420,000 GEL from the Georgian National Film Center (GNFC).

TBILISI: The Georgian short animated film Geno has been sold to Japan, Korea, France, Spain and the United States.

TBILISI: Simon Lereng Wilmont's film The Distant Barking of Dogs won the main award of the international competition of the 6th edition of CinéDOC-Tbilisi, the first international documentary film festival in the Caucasus, which concluded on 8 May 2018.

TBILISI: Three Georgian debut feature films received 340,00 EUR in grants from the Georgian National Film Center (GNFC). Twenty projects participated in the competition.

TBILISI: The Georgian National Film Center has announced development grants for 12 feature film projects.

TBILISI: Georgian National Film Center distributed 360,925 EUR / 1.1 m GEL for the production of three international coproductions directed by Levan Tutberidze, Tinatin Kajrishvili and Stefan Tolz.

TBILISI: Georgia had a great year with more awards at international festivals and more attention given to Georgian films. Georgian cinema days were held in London, Kiev and Peru, and Georgia was a Focus Country at the 2017 International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film.

TBILISI: Domestic films admissions increased by 86.97 percent, while box office of domestic films increased by 77.25 percent in 2017. This is due to the release of more Georgian films including successes such as Hostages, My Happy Family and The Confessions.

TBILISI: Writer/director/producer Rati Tsiteladze is in the advanced development stage with The Empty House, an international coproduction set for shooting at the end of 2018. The project was selected for the 2018 Talent Project Market, a collaboration between the Berlinale Co-Production Market and Berlinale Talents.

FNE spoke with Zurab Maghalashvili, the director of the Georgian National Film Center, about the changes in the Georgian cinema since his appointment in spring 2016 and what lies ahead.