Georgian writer-director-producer Rusudan Glurjidze’s sophomore film, titled The Antique [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Rusudan Glurjidze
scheda film], is set to world-premiere in the Giornate degli Autori sidebar of this year’s Venice Film Festival (28 August-7 September – see the news).

Glurjidze studied French and Film Studies at the Tbilisi State University and the Georgian State Film and Theatre Institute, and later went on to work in advertising. Since 2007, she has been a producer and creative director at Cinetech. Her feature debut, House of Others [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Rusudan Glurjidze
intervista: Salome Demuria
scheda film], premiered at Karlovy Vary and scooped the festival’s Grand Prix. It was also Georgia’s Oscars hopeful for the 2017 Academy Awards.

The plot of the helmer’s new effort follows a young Georgian man called Lado (Vladimir Daushvili), who is involved in smuggling antique furniture from Georgia to Russia. Tired of his immaturity, Medea (Salome Demuria), Lado’s girlfriend, buys a flat in St Petersburg’s historic centre for herself. It is being sold at a very low price because the apartment comes with its owner, Vadim Vadimich – an opinionated, old-fashioned character played by Sergey Dreiden. At this time of unlawful deportations of thousands of Georgians from Russia, Lado himself is caught and deported. The antique warehouse is raided, while Medea hides in a wardrobe.

“The Antique is a heart-warming parable about the hopes and aspirations of migrants in an uncertain world, but it also illustrates the indiscriminate and cruel ways in which politics derail human lives. The story is set in modern-day St Petersburg during the illegal mass expulsions of Georgian migrants from Russia, but was inspired by real events that caused great distress to my country and me, personally,” explains Glurjidze in her director’s notes.

“The cruel deportation campaign that swept across Russia was aimed exclusively at Georgian citizens. It was the result of an abrupt worsening of already-strained political relations between Russia and Georgia. In the first few days of this campaign, 2,680 Georgians were expelled from Russia. The operation was never officially declared as a political retaliation. […] In today’s chaotic world, people are constantly moving from place to place. Some move in search of a better life and economic advantage, while others are forced to flee war and persecution. For some, migration is a matter of choice; for others, it is a matter of life and death,” she continues.

The project’s key creatives are DoPs Gorka Gomez Andreu and Alexander Glurjidze, editor Grigol Palavandishvili, sound designers Sebastian Tesch and Robert Hefter, production designer Grigol Mikeladze, and costume designer Ana Ninua.

The Antique is being produced by Georgia’s Cinetech and Switzerland’s Cinetrain, and co-produced by Finland’s Whitepoint Digital and Germany’s Basis Berlin Filmprodktion.

Zurab Magalashvili, Manana Shevardnadze, Andrey Epifanov, Tanya Petrik, Jussi Myllyniemi and Uschi Feldge serve as the producers, with Ansgar Frerich, Eva Kemme and Tatiana Detlofson on board as the co-producers. Marie-Pierre Macia is attached as the creative producer.

France’s MPM Premium is in charge of the feature’s world sales.