The 20th Batumi International Arthouse Film Festival (BIAFF) wrapped on Saturday night in the city's Drama Theatre with an awards ceremony that saw Lance Hammer's Queen at Sea pick up the Grand Prix. In addition, Anna Calder-Marshall was dubbed Best Actress for that film, and Levan Koguashvili won Best Director for Guria, which world-premiered at Venice and is Georgia's Oscar contender. The film's lead, Kakha Tcholadze, bagged the Best Actor Award, while Giorgi Gigauri received a Special Mention for his performance in George Ovashvili’s The Moon Is a Father of Mine.

Ovashvili won two other Special Mentions – from the Georgian film critics’ jury and the youth jury – as well as the Rezo Chkheidze Award for Best Directing. The critics presented the Olga (Lala) Tabukashvili Award for Outstanding Ensemble Performance to Guria, and the youth jury selected Rafael Manuel’s Filipiñana as its winner.

The short-film jury’s main prize went to Mo Harawe's IFFR entry Whispers of a Burning Scent (Somalia/Austria/Germany). Citing the exceptional quality of the selection, the jury gave out three Special Mentions: to Mariam Khatchvani's Inherited Silence (Georgia), Dalya Keleş's Gravity (Turkey) and Camila Sagyntkan's What Have You Done, Zarina? (Kazakhstan).

The Lifetime Achievement Awards were bestowed upon Agniezka Holland, whose Franz screened in the Masters Collection programme; legendary Georgian filmmaker Temur Babluani; and UK producer Mike Downey, who has worked extensively in the country with Vladimir Kachavara, of 20 Steps Production, on films such as Ben Hopkins’ Lost in Karastan, the first-ever UK-Georgian co-production, as well as Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s The President, Mariam Khatchvani’s Dede and Rudolph Herzog’s How to Sell a War.

This year, BIAFF grew exponentially, having added new locations, including two open-air venues with free screenings of a sprawling programme of historic Georgian films, resulting in an estimated figure of almost 10,000 viewers.

Here is the full list of BIAFF’s award winners:

Grand Prix
Queen at Sea - Lance Hammer (UK/USA)

Best Director
Guria - Levan Koguashvili (Georgia/Switzerland/Luxembourg/Bulgaria/Turkey/Norway/Saudi Arabia)

Best Actress
Anna Calder-Marshall - Queen at Sea

Best Actor
Kakha Tcholadze - Guria
Special Mention
Giorgi Gigauri - The Moon Is a Father of Mine (Georgia/Luxembourg/Turkey/Germany/Czech Republic/Bulgaria)

Olga (Lala) Tabukashvili Award for Outstanding Ensemble Performance
Guria - Levan Koguashvili
Special Mention
The Moon Is a Father of Mine - George Ovashvili

Youth Jury Award
Filipiñana - Rafael Manuel (Singapore/UK/Philippines/France)
Special Mention
The Moon Is a Father of Mine - George Ovashvili

Rezo Chkheidze Award for Best Directing
George Ovashvili - The Moon Is a Father of Mine

Best Short Film
Whispers of a Burning Scent - Mo Harawe (Somalia/Austria/Germany)
Special Mentions
Inherited Silence - Mariam Khatchvani (Georgia)
Gravity - Dalya Keleş (Turkey)
What Have You Done, Zarina? - Camila Sagyntkan (Kazakhstan)

Lifetime Achievement Awards
Temur Babluani
Mike Downey
Agnieszka Holland