by Nathaniel R
A "Shindisi" actor getting a touch-up on set
Georgia has selected the film Shindisi for the Best International Film competition at the Oscars. The film was selected from a list of five titles by a jury of filmmakers. Dito Tsintsadze's film is a true story based on the 17 Georgian soldiers who died in the village of Shindisi during the Russia-Georgia war of 2008. The cast is a mix of real soldiers and actors...
This is the second Oscar submission for Tsintsadze who they also selected for Mediator (2008). The four other films that were in the running this year were Parade, Until Dad Returns, Neighbors, and another Tsintsadze film Inhale-Exhale. He's prolific!
a still from Shindisi
Georgia was nominated with its very first submission A Chef in Love (1996) but have not returned to the Oscars since (but they've only been submitting religiously since 2007). They came close in 2014 though with Corn Island which was a surprise inclusion on the finalist list. Sadly Georgian films almost never make it to US movie theaters so we haven't seen any of their submissions over the years though we can recommend the lovely Georgian film Since Otar Left (2003) by director Julie Bertuccelli which was strangely not submitted by the country but did get a US release as well as travelling to many film festivals.