'Guria' Lands at Venice, Named Georgia's Oscar Entry — SkimNews
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- Loco Films acquired international sales rights to 'Guria,' reuniting with director Levan Koguashvili after previously handling his Tribeca-winning 'Brighton 4th,' ahead of the film's world premiere in Venice's Spotlight section.
- Georgia selected 'Guria' as its entry to the 99th Academy Awards, the Georgian National Film Center announced Thursday, picking it over four competing domestic films including 'Supporting Role' and 'The Moon Is My Father.'
- 'Guria' follows Zuriko, a 45-year-old hazelnut farmer in western Georgia who rejects a miserly offer from Italian buyers and hunts for better prices while his friend Gela lines up potential wives none of whom pass muster with Zuriko's ex-mother-in-law.
- The film is a seven-country co-production spanning Georgia, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Turkey, Norway and Saudi Arabia, lead produced by Kino Iberica, Cineworx Filmproduktion, Tarantula Luxembourg and Art Fest with Red Sea Fund support.
- Director Koguashvili framed the project as 'ordinary people without ideological or political agendas — just pure living, just pure cinema, just pure Guria,' while Loco Films CEO Laurent Daniélou called it 'a marvellous Georgian comedy that opens a window onto a fractured post-Soviet world.'
Why it matters: Georgia's National Film Center used one of its most visible international slots — its Oscar submission — on a post-Soviet rural tragicomedy over four other domestic contenders, betting Koguashvili's track record (a 2019 Tribeca World Cinema Dramatic Competition win for 'Brighton 4th') translates to Academy attention; for Loco Films, the deal extends a working relationship with a proven festival director at a moment when Venice's Spotlight section is actively positioning films for awards-season momentum.
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