Georgian director Mariam Khatchvani’s film Dede will compete at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, the largest film festival in the Czech Republic and the most prestigious festival in Central and Eastern Europe. The film narrative was set in Svaneti, the stark mountainous region in northwestern Georgia where the director herself was born. The movie itself is in Svan language and reveals the story of a girl named Dionla who lives in remote mountain village where life is strictly governed by centuries of tradition. Dede is Mariam’s feature film debut, with a script developed at the Sundance Screenwriters Lab. As reported, the film was inspired by the real story of Khatchvani’s grandmother. Dede develops a theme that has already appeared in the filmmaker’s internationally successful short Dinola. The ravishing beauty of the majestic, unyielding natural surroundings only serves to accentuate the heroine’s struggle with tradition as she seeks to acquire her freedom and the right to make her own decisions. The film was produced by 20 Steps Productions, an independent production company based in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Mariam Khatchvani

"The film is about a Svan girl, who fights for her love. We began shooting the movie a year and a half ago. It took us quite long because we had some unexpected problems. The original version of the film is in Svan language and it includes only amateur actors except for Giorgi Babluani. Our sales agent sent the film to the festival and it was accepted. We are going to take part in an international competition. Apart from that, we have invitations from other festivals too and everything will become known step by step”, - Author of the film Mariam Khatchvani told Georgian Journal.



“Karlovy Vary is an A class film festival, where close to 1500 guests are invited and close to 700 different media outlets are assigned. It turned out that I am the youngest among all the participants. This is my first feature film, whose screenplay was accepted by Sindance Film Festival, among other three screenplays. Besides, a French institute called Cinema du Monde took it to the Cannes festival. As for my predecessor short film Dinola, it received a prize last week and it is also the first Georgian short film which was presented at the European Academy Awards”, - Thriving Georgian director reported.

As for the Karlovy festival , it is one of the oldest A-list film festivals (i.e., non-specialized festivals with a competition for feature-length fiction films), a category it shares with the festivals in Cannes, Berlin, Venice, San Sebastian, Moscow, Montreal, Shanghai, and Tokyo. Among filmmakers, buyers, distributors, sales agents, and journalists, KVIFF is considered the most important event in all of Central and Eastern Europe.

Every year, the festival presents some 200 films from around the world, and regularly hosts famous and important filmmakers. The Karlovy Vary festival is intended for both film professionals and the general public, and offers visitors a carefully designed programme, excellent facilities and a broad range of other services.