Press releases

MINSK, 13 September (BelTA) – Georgian film director, screenwriter and producer Zaza Urushadze will head the jury of the competition program at the 2016 Minsk International Film Festival Listapad, BelTA learned from the organizers of the festival.

His most acclaimed films are: Here Comes the Dawn (1998), Three Houses (2008), Stay with Me (2011), The Guardian (2012), Tangerines (2013). The Guardian was screened in the main competition program of the 2012 Minsk International Film Festival, and won the prize for best actor. Tangerines won the best director award of the Warsaw Film Festival. The film was shortlisted for Golden Globe Awards and Oscar in best foreign language film nominations in 2015.

Zaza Urushadze’s films tell stories about people who get caught up in situations beyond their control and face a choice: either to save or lose a human face. Critics called Tangerines “the hymn to humanity”. The film will be screened out-of-competition in Minsk. Zaza Urushadze will personally present the film to the audience.

Zaza Urushadze graduated from Shota Rustaveli Theater and Film Georgian State University. He is one of those who founded the Georgian National Film Center in 2001. He was its first director. In 2015, Zaza Urushadze was elected member of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The main competition program of the Minsk International Film Festival Listapad includes films made in the countries of the former Socialist camp: the CIS, Central and South-East Asia, the Baltic countries, Central and Eastern Europe. The professional jury will be composed of filmmakers and eminent representatives of the global film industry. The main venue of the festival will be the Tsentralny cinema house.

The 23^rd edition of the Minsk International Film Festival Listapad will be held under the motto “Towards Inspiration” on 4-11 November. The organizers are the center of visual and performing arts ART Corporation. The festival was founded by the Culture Ministry and Minsk City Hall with the participation of the Belarusian TV and Radio Company, National Film Studio Belarusfilm, and Belarusian Union of Cinematographers.