Georgia

Mari Gulbiani is a Georgian film director and screenplay writer. She studied philology at Tbilisi State University, and film directing at the Theatre and Film State University. From 2006 until 2010, she fine-tuned her experience at the Parisian film school, ‘Ateliers Varan’. In 2007, she founded the production company, Midifilm. She has worked in the program department of the CineDoc Tbilisi documentary film festival, and for CineDoc Young as a section coordinator.

Before studying documentary filmmaking at the University of London, Salomé Jashi studied journalism and worked as a reporter in Georgia. Returning to Georgia, she founded the production company, Sakdoc Film. Jashi was also part of Caucadoc, a project supporting the development of documentary films in the South Caucasus.

Alexander Kvatashidze was born in 1977 in Tbilisi, Georgia. In 1996 he graduated from Nikoladze Art College with a qualification as a sculptor. In 2001 he earned his BA degree in Art and Humanities at Tbilisi State University. In 2005-2006, Kvatashidze studied at the film department of California State University in San Jose. Since 2006 Alexander has worked as a director, DoP or producer on various projects, most of which were documentaries. He founded Lokokina Studio in 2009.

Shorena Tevzadze graduated from Shota Rustaveli Theater and Georgian State Film University with a MA in Film Direction, and Ilia state University with an MA in the Art of Dramaturgy. She also studied at UCLA. She has participated in international film festivals and workshops including: TIFF, Berlinale, Sarajevo FF, Lisbon docs, and Eurasiadoc. Didube, the Last Stop is her first feature-length documentary. It premiered in Visions du Reel and won the award for best film in Cinedoc, Tbilisi (in the Focus Caucasus section).

Rati Oneli was born in Tbilisi, Georgia, and lived in New York from 1999 to 2014, after which he returned to Georgia to make his documentary, City of the Sun. Oneli specialized in Middle East Studies, as well as International affairs, at Free University Tbilisi and Columbia University in New York. He is currently pursuing a PhD in Philosophy at the European Graduate School. In 2014, he produced and co-edited Invisible Spaces, a short film that premiered at the Cannes International Film Festival, and which was nominated for the Palme d'Or. His next production, Lethe, premiered in 2016 at the Director’s Fortnight, Cannes International Film Festival. City of the Sun is Oneli’s first feature-length documentary.