Tbilisi Pride Week opens with screening of award-winning feature by director Elene Naveriani
The local LGBTIQ+ community, diplomatic corps and representatives of international and local organisations were present at the launch of Tbilisi Pride. Photo: UNDP Georgia
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The programme for this year’s Tbilisi Pride Week kicked off on Tuesday in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi with a screening of Wet Sand, an award-winning feature by director Elene Naveriani.
The local LGBTIQ+ community, diplomatic corps and representatives of international and local organisations were present at the launch event for screening the feature that earned the Best Actor Award at last year’s Locarno Film Festival.
Following the screening, the United Nations Development Programme in Georgia tweeted saying the film - a Swiss-Georgian co-production that follows its protagonists in a Black Sea coastline town - represented a message of "support and hope" to the LGBTIQ+ community in Georgia.
???? #HumanRights belong to everyone!
— UNDP in Georgia ???????? (@UNDPGeorgia) June 29, 2022
Tbilisi #PrideWeek kicks off with a queer film show sending a message of support & hope to #LGBTQIA communities in Georgia. #HumanRights4All #ადამიანისუფლებებიყველასთვის pic.twitter.com/aZubpZfrc2
Bahia Tahzib-Lie, the Human Rights Ambassador at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Netherlands, also tweeted following the event:
During my mission to ???????? I attended the @TbilisiPride ????️???? film screening of Elene Naveriani's Wet Sand, to highlight human diversity, equality & inclusion
— Bahia Tahzib-Lie (@BTahzibLie) June 28, 2022
We all have a right to reach our full potential & be our authentic self
Equal rights for #LGBTIQ+ people = a priority for ???????? pic.twitter.com/E5Qth3W5dK
Swedish Ambassador Ulrik Tideström commended the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs on doing a "very good job" in ensuring safety of the audience at the launch event, on the backdrop of threats issued by right-wing and conservative groups ahead of the Pride Week.
Happy to attend opening of #TbilisiPride together with fellow ambassadors. #HumanRights4All, equality, diversity and inclusion are enshrined in ???????? constitution and legislation, our shared ???????? values and int law. @MIAofGeorgia did very good job to keep event safe, as it should be. pic.twitter.com/wfq1Ncwb5h
— Ulrik Tideström ???????????????? (@UTidestrom) June 29, 2022
The protesting groups were present in the vicinity of the event, with police mobilised for security. Law enforcement was reported to have removed an individual from the location a few hours before the event.
The Interior Ministry said it would take "all appropriate measures" to ensure safety of participants during the programme of events included in the Pride Week, adding it was in “constant communication” with organisers to ensure safety for the event.
The Ministry’s statement followed concerns expressed by organisers over a series of threats made by the far-right Alt-Info media platform - involved in last year’s attacks on reporters who had gathered to report on the eventually cancelled Tbilisi Pride events - as well as the Conservative Movement political party.
This year’s edition of Tbilisi Pride is organised without a public March for Dignity due to safety concerns, instead opting for a programme involving screenings, a regional conference and a Pride Festival in closed venues.
Georgian Interior Ministry has launched an investigation into threats issued by the right-wing organisation Alt-Info ahead of the planned Tbilisi Pride Week, organised by the LGBTQ+ community and set to start in the capital on Tuesday, Interpressnews reported on Monday.
The safety and freedom of expression and assembly of “each individual” will be protected during the upcoming Tbilisi Pride Week, Georgia’s Interior Ministry announced on Monday.
The Georgian Government’s responsibility to safeguard the rights to peaceful assembly of LGBTQI+ persons, prevent discrimination and violence and ensure commemoration of IDAHOBIT, the International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia “openly and publicly” were stressed by the diplomatic missions in Georgia on Monday.
A new survey under the United Nations Joint Programme for Gender Equality has revealed a decreasing tendency of negative attitudes toward the LGBTQI community in Georgia, while still pointing out a “significant challenge” in the protection of the rights of queer people.
Police arrested 26 participants of a right-wing rally against the ongoing Tbilisi Pride Week in Tbilisi on Saturday for “disorderly conduct”.
The latest feature work by Georgian filmmaker Elene Naveriani will have its world premiere at the 55th edition of Directors’ Fortnight, a programme running in parallel with the Cannes Film Festival, after its selection among 30 films for the platform.
Georgia’s Interior Ministry on Friday pledged to ensure safety for the ongoing Tbilisi Pride Week, ahead of the concluding event of the queer community festival in the Georgian capital on Saturday.
The latest feature work Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry by Georgian filmmaker Elene Naveriani was unveiled as the winner of the Best Feature Film at the 29th Sarajevo Film Festival.