Z365" or "Festival all year round" is the new strategic point of the Festival in which converge investigation, accompaniment and development of new talents (Ikusmira Berriak, Nest); training and cinematic knowledge transfer (Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola, Zinemaldia + Plus, Filmmakers' dialogue); and investigation, disclosure and cinematic thought (Z70 project, Thought and Discussion and Research and publications).
Dea Kulumbegashvili (Georgia, 1986) studied Film Directing at Columbia University in New York. She has directed the short films Ukhilavi sivrtseebi (Invisible Spaces, 2014), which competed in the official short film selection at the Festival de Cannes, and Léthé (2016), which participated in the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs and played at dozens of festivals around the world. Dasatskisi (Beginning), her debut feature, was part of the official selection at the Festival de Cannes 2020, cancelled due to covid-19, and which finally competed at San Sebastian Festival, where it won the Golden Shell for Best Film, the Silver Shell for Best Director and Best Actress and the Jury Prize for Best Screenplay. Dea had previously been invited to participate with this project in the Cannes’ Cinéfondation Residency and the Sam Spiegel International Film Lab in Jerusalem, where she receive an award, as she did at the Sofia Meetings, and also received a grant from Rotterdam Festival’s Hubert Bals Fund. The film similarly won the FIPRESCI Prize at Toronto Festival and was the movie chosen to represent Georgia in the race for the Oscars.