What happens to us when we try to erase our past because we fear societal stereotypes? After recovering from tuberculosis Mariam has a recurring nightmare, that lasts seven years, about being kept high up in the mountains, in the middle of the forest in an old palace called Abastumani where outcasts live. One day, Mariam goes to meet the secret community to overcome her fear. Working on this film, the directors realised that Abastumani wasn't just hiding a small society, but was also a Pandora's box of Georgia's past. The building shares a forgotten story that was never told, and the ghosts of the past reveal something much more sinister than Mariam’s personal nightmare: they expose the nightmare of a whole country.
Georgia, Poland 2023, '74
DIRECTOR: Mariam Chachia, Nik Voigt
CAMERA: Nik Voigt
MONTAGE: Nik Voigt, Mariam Chachia
MUSIC: Paul (Foda) Fothergill
PRODUCERS: Mariam Chachia, Ewa Szwarc
PRODUCTION: Opyodoc, Telewizja Polska S.A.
FESTIVALS & AWARDS:
Docs Bacrelona: Best Film (2023) Golden Apricot: Silver Apricot (2023) MakeDox: Young Onion (2023) IDFA (2023) Dok.Fest (2023) Shanghai IFF (2023) IceDocs (2023) Amman IFF (2023) MakeDox (2023) CineDOC (2023) DokuBaku (2023) Pravo Ljudski FF (2023) Tbilisi IFF (2023) DocPoint (2024) True/False FF (2024) Thesaloniki IFF (2024) ArtDocFest (2024)
Mariam Chachia
Mariam Chachia is a documentary film director and producer from Georgia. She is the founder of film production company OpyoDoc and co-founder of DOCA Documentary Association Georgia. Mariam's love affair with film began in 2007 when she started making short TV series for kids titled Rubber, which aired on Rustavi2, one of Georgia's biggest TV broadcasters. Besides short TV series, Mariam has directed several educational videos and animations. In 2013, Mariam paid tribute to her grandmother through a documentary film co-produced with Ardèche Images Production, a French production company, and broadcast on the French TV channel Lyon Capital. Her first feature documentary, Listen to the Silence, premiered at DOK Leipzig 2016 and won the Golden Dove in the Next Masters Competition. In 2017 that Mariam decided to producer the films of other first time directors and has since produced two feature and short documentary films with newcomers, which have been screened at DOK Leipzig, CPH:DOX, the New York Independent Film Festival, Cottbus, and the Trento IFF. Magic Mountain is Mariams second feature documentary which she produced and co-directed with Nik Voigt. Apart from producing and directing, Mariam have been working as a tutor for documentary filmmakers for the last 7 years. In December 2022, Mariam and her colleagues founded DOCA – Documentary Association Georgia, which aspires to contribute to the growth of a sustainable healthy documentary film industry in the country.
Nik Voigt
Nik Voigt, a versatile filmmaker, began his career as a documentary photographer, where he spent many years mastering the art of weaving together characters, events, locations, and subjects into works of beauty that were greater than the sum of their parts. Driven by his passion for visual storytelling, Nik decided to venture into producing documentary films. Over the years, Nik has worn many hats, working as a cinematographer, director, and editor across a range of film and media fields before finally finding his calling in documentary filmmaking in 2016. Since then, he has amassed an impressive portfolio of 9 DoP credits on documentary feature films, which have been shown on Arte and screened at numerous European festivals. Despite having experience directing commercials, corporate films, and short films, Nik's true directorial debut for a feature documentary came in the form of Magic Mountain. The film is a testament to his creativity and talent, and it showcases his unique ability to capture the essence of his subjects on screen. Besides his work in the film industry, Nik is also a dedicated tutor who works tirelessly to help aspiring filmmakers understand the filmmaking process. He is committed to teaching them skills and helping them develop their ideas, ensuring that the next generation of filmmakers is equipped with the knowledge they need to succeed in the industry.
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