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Director’s Profile

George Ovashvili is a film director from Tbilisi, Georgia. He is a graduate of the Film Department at the Georgian State Institute of Cinema and Theatre in 1996, and the filmmaking course of the New York Film Academy at Universal Studios in Hollywood in 2006. He has directed a number of poignantly elegant shorts: most notably Eye Level, which won the New York Film Academy Scholarship Award at the Berlin in 2005, and the Special Prize of the International Jury at the Odense International Film Festival the same year. In 1997, Wagonette won a Jury Special Mention at the Molodist International Film Festival. Ovashvili’s big-screen directorial debut, The Other Bank (2009), was screened at 80 international film festivals in more than 50 countries, and won around 50 international prizes. He has recently been at work on two new projects: Corn Island (2013), a drama for which he was co-writer, director, and producer; and Khibula (2014), which he also co-wrote, directed and produced.

Synopsis

Swollen by the rains of spring, the river Enguri rushes towards the Black Sea, depositing rocks and soil in the Kholketi lowlands. An island is formed in the middle of the river. It is a god-given fertile place, not only for wildlife but also for an old man who ventures onto the newly created island to grow the corn that will see him through the next winter. With the help of his sixteen-year-old granddaughter, the old man manages to sow the corn and build a shelter in which
they live a peaceful life in harmony with the sounds and smells of nature. Their idyll comes to an end when the girl finds a young man hiding among the cornstalks, apparently fleeing from captivity. She decides to keep the boy hidden from her grandfather. The boy becomes the embodiment of a life away
from the tiny corm island that suddenly feels even smaller than it already is. When the boy’s pursuers arrive at the island, the girl is not able to hide him any longer, and he is taken from the island into an uncertain future. For the girl, the island is now a prison, and she is desperate to leave. But first the corn must be
harvested. Heavy rains herald the coming of autumn and the old man and the young girl work hard to harvest the corn. The river swells like it did in the spring and it eats away at the edges of the corn island. The old man uses all his strength to protect his island from the growing force of the river. The old man and his granddaughter manage to harvest the corn just in time. Heavy rain beats down on the island. The shelter begins to give way to the force of the water just as the old man hands the last sheaf of corn to his granddaughter in their tiny boat. The old man fails to step into the boat and the girl looks on helplessly as her grandfather disappears into the roaring river, together with his shelter and the entire island. The swollen river makes its violent way towards the sea. A new small island is formed. When the sky clears, wagtails land on the wet island in search of prey. In the distance: the sound of oars hitting the water, heralding the arrival of yet another man in search of a corn island.

Achievements

2014 Busan International Film Festival
2014 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival - Award of Ecumenical Jury, Crystal Globe
2014 London Film Festival
2014 Chicago International Film Festival
2014 Mumbai Film Festival
2014 Sao Paulo International Film Festival
2014 Tokyo International Film Festival
2014 Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival
2014 Brisbane Film Festival
2014 Kinoshock - Best Film, Best Cinematography
2014 San Sebastian International Film Festival
2014 Split Film Festival - Best film
2014 Minsk International Film Festival - Best Cinematography
2014 Montpellier Mediterranean Film Festival - Best film, best music, Critics award, Audience awards
2014 Film Festival Cottbus - Audience award
2014 Noordelijk Film Festival
2014 Arras Film Festival
2014 Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival
2014 Cinedays Film Festival
2015 Fribourg International Film Festival - Audience Award
2015 Hong Kong International Film Festival
2015 Trieste Film Festival - Audience award
2015 Seattle International Film Festival
2015 Sydney Film Festival
2015 Palm Springs International Film Festival
2015 Cinequest Film Festival
2015 CPH PIX
2015 Titanic International Filmpresence Festival
2015 Melbourne International Film Festival
2015 Academy Awards - short-listed

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