Georgian Director Ana Urushadze on Making Her Sarajevo Competition Film Before “A Dead-End Situation” Got Worse

The Georgian film industry is, in Ana Urushadze’s words, “in a dead-end situation.”

Directors, producers, writers and performers are boycotting the Georgian National Film Center (GNFC). Among other issues, they’re protesting the state funding agency over censorship concerns. “Unfortunately, the people who should care and have the means to turn the situation around don’t do that. It’s a dead-end situation at this point,” she says. “The people boycotting, I know many of them and there are very, very talented people there. Ones who have not had any possibility to do a feature film yet, and possibly will not have [the chance] in the near future. Time goes by, and films are not being made.”

Urushadze’s second feature film, premiering in competition at the Sarajevo Film Festival nine years after her debut film Scary Mother won the Heart of Sarajevo, was one of the last projects to make it out before the situation worsened.

The Tbilisi-set Supporting Role follows Niaz Ninua (played by Dato Bakhtadze), a fading Georgian film star accustomed to playing heroic lead roles. After meeting with a young, female director, Aza (Elene Maisuradze), who offers him the chance to play a bizarre and deeply unsympathetic character in her debut feature, Niaz leaves the audition unconvinced (and pretty offended). But he soon embarks on something of an odyssey around the city and gradually surrenders to the role. Captivated by the unknown, meeting characters as elusive as those in a Homer epic, Niaz sets in motion an irreversible process of self-transformation.

“To me, ultimately, it’s a film about realizing the elusive nature of reality, and taking control of your life,” the Georgian filmmaker tells The Hollywood Reporter from Sarajevo’s National Theatre on Wednesday. We are catching up ahead of the movie’s competition premiere before a star-studded jury — led by Oscar nominee Emily Watson — decides on a winning film later this week.

Urushadze’s meta-ish project is inspired by a lot of prevalent, 21st-century themes: the generational gap, creative liberation and legacy. Inspiration struck when she herself was casting the main actor for her debut feature. “I was meeting all these men [who were] 60, 70 years old. And I had a really interesting encounter with one of them who got offended because I was very young — very [much] a beginner,” she laughs. “He was waiting for a more established director and he rushed out. It was really inspirational for me. I started thinking about this character: ‘Who is it? What would he be like?'”

Niaz is played with self-effacing vulnerability by Bakhtadze, who is “a delight” to work with, according to the director. “You can really see how he loves and how comfortable he is in what he’s doing. It’s always inspiring to see people doing something that they are really passionate about and professional,” she says. The journey he goes on is about “letting go of the script that others gave you — literally,” explains Urushadze.

She admits that themes around the ego and male fragility weren’t exactly planned. “Many actors of that generation have shared traits — they lived through the same era, the same problems, and it automatically marked them in some way. That by itself appears in the film, but it wasn’t my main idea. I didn’t really overthink it. It happened by itself,” Urushadze says. “There is a big generation gap,” she adds. “[Aza] is, I guess, Gen Z, and he’s the boomer generation. It’s a very big gap. Especially in Georgia.”

Being in Sarajevo is, however, a privilege — no matter how bad things are in the Georgian film industry. “I’m very, very happy to be here, and it’s very important. Especially in this [current climate], when you don’t really see perspective,” Urushadze beams. “And it gives you opportunities to connect with people, to share new ideas and get someone interested in a new project.

Is she thinking about that next project yet? And is she staying resolute in the face of a warring film community? “By all means, of course. I take it one step at a time. I have a new idea, I’m working on it. I’m trying to make a script, and it’s a pity that maybe it won’t be Georgian — the next one. I don’t know. You have to have a major fund from Georgia for it to be called a Georgian [production], but I don’t want to stop doing what I love.”