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London Georgian Film Festival

Tina (Taki Mumladze) and Megi (Mariam Khundadze) in A Room of My Own

It's inspiring working on the seventh edition of the London Georgian Film Festival: Reflections on the Black Sea at the Ciné Lumière. Taking place against the backdrop of Russia's war in Ukraine, the festival provides a rare chance to see 2020s Contemporary World Cinema from Georgia, Romania, Turkey and Ukraine, alongside previously banned 1920s silent films with live piano accompaniment.

The opening film - The Self-Seeker - is a silent masterpiece and Ukrainian classic, made in the same year as Vertov's iconic Man With A Movie Camera, and just before the Soviet clampdown on a creative period in Ukraine and Georgia. The programme also features films from emerging filmmakers and writers, highlighting the experience of women and the LGBTQ+ community, and almost half of the films in the festival are directed by women. Heather Stewart, former Creative Director at the BFI, introduced the opening film. Sinead Cusack and Diana Quick read a poem for Ukraine to begin the evening, which was followed by a reception with delicious Georgian wine and Ukrainian food.