According to director Uta Beria, the Georgian National Film Center sent a warning letter to the production company ahead of the world premiere of the film “Tear Gas,” stating that the company would face a financial penalty if the film were screened publicly. Beria noted that the Film Center also sent a letter with similar content to the Locarno International Film Festival.
The director states that the problems began as early as the film’s production stage. According to him, the National Film Center withheld part of the funding secured through a competition victory in 2022—almost half of the 500,000 GEL—for unspecified reasons. In Beria’s assessment, the Film Center initially tried to hinder the completion of the film, and is now attempting to prevent it from reaching audiences.
The film “Tear Gas” was partially shot during the ongoing protests in Tbilisi. Beria dedicated the award he received at the Locarno International Film Festival to Mate Devidze, who was arrested during the 2024 pro-European protests and whom he described as “the youngest political prisoner in Georgia.”
According to the Film Center, the production company received 279,625 GEL from the state budget for the film’s production. The agency explained that because the production company failed to submit the completed version of the film to the National Film Center “in accordance with established procedures,” granting permission for its public screening became impossible. The Film Center noted that these circumstances were also communicated to the Locarno Film Festival.
Despite this, the Locarno International Film Festival kept the film in the competition, giving audiences the opportunity to view it. The film won an independent jury prize at the festival.
Director Beso Solomonashvili considers the Film Center’s actions to be censorship. He stated that this is “authoritarian regime censorship” targeting a film that is inconvenient for the government. In Solomonashvili’s assessment, the government is attempting to silence directors, writers, and artists because “worthy art is the truth, and a dictatorial regime does not need the truth.”
