For their ninth edition, the London Georgian Film Festival will show a selection of documentary and fiction short films by new talents, with the aim to explore diverse themes across generations.
Here’s what you need to know about this year’s selection.
Burning Sun (2023)
★★★☆☆
Nutsa Tsikaridze is probably best known for her work on the screenplay of Tato Kotetishvili’s impressive debut feature Holy Electricity (2024). However, prior to this, she wrote and directed the short film Burning Sun, a fictional examination of a group of children on the brink of losing their innocence.
The 18-minute short follows a group of four children — three boys and one girl — as they spend their day adventuring in nature, from playing in the mud to poking at ants. Things take a more ominous turn, however, when they come across a dead body on the riverbank. Despite the glaring sun overhead, a lingering sense of unease stemming from this encounter permeates the rest of their day.
Tsikaridze’s film is beautifully shot, and provides a solid exploration of Georgian childhood, including the emerging gender roles dividing the group. However, there is also something lacking in the conclusion, with the children appearing to move too quickly past what they found and their subsequent actions that day, leaving the audience with more questions than solid resolutions.
Elene Dariani (2024)
3.5/5★
Elene Dariani is the first film to be produced by the Georgian stop-motion studio Fantasmagoria, founded by Elene Tavadze in 2022.
The 15-minute short examines the legacy of Elene Dariani, the supposed fictional author of work published within the famous poet Paolo Iashvili’s collection in the early 20th century. At the time, the poems caused a scandal for their graphic depictions of passionate love from a female perspective. It was only until after the collapse of the Soviet Union that archive materials suggested Elene was a real person — Elene Bakradze — creating a literary debate within Georgia.
In Elene Dariani, Tavadze focuses on the possible relationship between Iashvili and Bakradze, examining the power of love and passion in two individuals. Yet, for a non-Georgian viewer unfamiliar with the history at hand, the film fails to coherently introduce its two main characters, focusing more on snippets from their works of poetry amidst abstract animations.
That being said, the animation by Ana Khopheria is stunning — the insane amount of care and detail put into the sets are truly a feast for the eyes. It is well worth keeping an eye out to see what studio Fantasmagoria and Tavadze go on to produce in future.
Inhale (2024)
★★★★☆
Inhale marks a stirring debut by the Swiss–Georgian screenwriter and director Melana Sokhadze.
Coming in at just under 13 minutes, the film follows 13-year-old Nino as she experiences her first menstruation on the same day as a major swimming competition. When her male trainer finds out, Nino finds herself excluded based on outdated conceptions of women’s health — ‘It’s not good for you to be physically active right now’, the coach tells her at one point. Language plays an important role, as everyone refuses to call menstruation what it is, instead always using the vague term, ‘it happened’.
Though short, Inhale expertly digs into the sexism women face in Georgia’s sporting industry. Barbare Topadze is also outstanding as Nino, portraying a young girl frustrated by her own body as well as the reactions of the people around her.
Chase (2025)
3.5/5★
Niniko Lekishvili’s short documentary Chase is one of two films at the 2025 London Georgian Film Festival produced by the cross-border visual multimedia platform Chai Khana.
Chase focuses on the well-known actor and TV host Kakha Kintsurashvili who, as an IDP from Abkhazia, became one of the leading voices in Georgia’s ongoing anti-government protests in an effort to not lose yet another home. Over the course of 27 minutes, Lekishvili, with a shaky handheld camera, follows Kintsurashvili as he rouses crowds in Batumi, delivers books to the mother of an imprisoned protester, attends the trials of detained actors, and celebrates New Year’s with his children.
The film is strong in its story, giving insight into protests outside of Tbilisi, which are less well-filmed and shown in the West. It also personalises Kintsurashvili, delving into his troubled childhood, his decisions behind becoming an actor, and his hopes and plans for the future.
‘Whatever happens, we won’t come out of it unharmed’, Kintsurashvili says at one point, issuing both a warning and a comment on the impact the last year has had on Georgian society.
Yet, though an interesting glimpse into the early days of the anti-government protests, the film often feels disjointed, while the amateur cinematography lessens the emotional impact at times.
Fragments of Resistance (2025)
4.5/5★
This 23-minute Georgian–Serbian co-production by directors Levan Tskhovrebadze and Ani Kiladze expertly compares the anti-government protests that overtook both countries via documentary footage and letters between Tskhovrebadze and his Belgrade-based friend Pavla Banjac.
The film, the second to be produced by Chai Khana, explores how Tskhovrebadze and Banjac became involved in their local protests, and the toll continued resistance in the face of futility has on one’s emotional well-being. Unlike Chase, which concluded upon entering the New Year, Fragments of Resistance continues up throughout the summer, as the protests in both nations begin to dwindle with no end to the government repression in sight. Yet, Tskhovrebadze and Banjac still manage to keep up a sense of hope, with the aim to always continue the fight.
Fragments of Resistance is an inspiring film for anyone interested in what defiance against repression means in this day and age.
All five films will be screened at the London Georgian Film Festival on 4 October.
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