9-Month Contract Wins Spotlight Award at Alternativa
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- 9-Month Contract won the Spotlight Award at the Alternativa Film Festival in Medellín, Colombia.
- Ketevan Vashagashvili first met Zhana in 2012 while filming a TV documentary about life after orphanages in Georgia.
- Zhana pursued surrogacy, carrying four pregnancies to term and losing a fifth, while navigating stigma and unsafe agencies.
- Vashagashvili helped Zhana secure safer housing, raised rent money, and assisted her in finding work and social assistance.
- Surrogacy is legal but not regulated in Georgia, a context the film explores alongside motherhood and homelessness.
- 9-Month Contract is slated for a theatrical release in Georgia in May.
Why it matters: The film amplifies Zhana’s voice and exposes the void in Georgia’s surrogacy regulation, giving advocates a vivid case to demand policy reform while exposing the exploitation risk for surrogate mothers, potentially shifting public opinion and prompting legal scrutiny and encouraging NGOs to provide support.
