GHIMILIANI SAKARTVELO

SMILING GEORGIA

Luka Beradze / Germany, Georgia / 2023 / 62 min / Colour

What are the costs of the half-truths that politicians tell? In 2012, Georgian president Mikheil Saak'ashvili, known as Misha, wants to literally make the nation smile again. In the run-up to the elections, the party in power promises subsidized dental care for the less well-off, and so state doctors begin to extract decayed teeth, ensuring quick replacements. However, the president loses the election and the program is abandoned. Through touching interviews with those who suffered the consequences of this campaign, Smiling Georgia tells the story of the deceptions of political power, profoundly distant from the delicacy of the hopes and naivety of ordinary people.

  • Luka Beradze

    Luka Beradze

    Born in Tbilisi, Georgia, he graduated in directing from the Tbilisi Mass Media and Public Communications International Institute in 2011. In 2016 he directed the documentary I Went, I Saw, I Fix It for the Georgian national broadcaster. His short film Sorry For Being Late (2020) was selected by the FilmFestival Cottbus 2021. The feature film Smiling Georgia (2023) is produced by the Georgian National Film Center and the German Film- und Medienstiftung NRW.

Credits

Screenplay  Luka Beradze Cinematography  Lomero Akhvlediani Sound  Nino Tevdorashvili, Jascha ViehlEditing Nodar Nozadze, Joseph “Soso” Bliadze, Luka Beradze Music  Alexandre Kordzaia Main cast Nana Papidze, Lamara Samkharadze, Nodar Labadze, Bezhan LabadzeProduction company 1991 Productions

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