While art is often relegated to the bottom of financial priorities, it paradoxically becomes the primary target for dictators. Mariam’s camera tells the story of a filmmakers’ movement as „Georgian Cinema is Under Threat“ transforms into „Georgia Under Threat“ over the course of a tumultuous year.

Balkan Watchers 2024

In June 2023, Georgian filmmakers united to fight for independent Georgian cinema after the government took control of the sole funding source for filmmakers— the Georgian National Film Centre (GNFC)—and began showing signs of censorship. For ten months, they protested in various forms, becoming a family with a shared mission: to raise awareness about kleptocracy and the sins of dictatorship, and to prepare for the 2024 elections—their only chance to change the government and reclaim independent Georgian cinema. Standing alongside her colleagues, filmmaker Mariam Chachia took her camera and followed the protest movement from day one. Through her friends Tekla and Maradia, she captured the pivotal resistance of filmmakers against dictatorship. After nearly 100 days of shooting, her footage contained scenes of demonstrations, police attacks, clandestine meetings, strategic planning, and filmmakers’ solidarity.