International Arthouse Film Festival opens online and in Batumi

The Batumi International Arthouse Film Festival (BIAFF) opens this weekend in the Georgian port city of Batumi, bringing together a diverse competition programme of independent films.

Now in its 15th iteration, BIAFF presents 35 features and 50 short films from around the world, as well as retrospectives, talks, and other events that will be held in cinemas and open-air venues in Batumi.

Amongst the programme’s highlight is Yellow Cat, the latest film of acclaimed Kazakh director Adilkhan Yerzhanov about an ex-convict who, fuelled by his passion for the films of French actor Alain Delon, dreams of building a cinema in the Kazakh mountains.

The main competition also features There is No Evil, a heart-wrenching drama film about the death penalty in Iran that won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2020.

In addition to its main competition programme, BIAFF 2020 features a special section for short films made during the Covid-19 pandemic. The shorts will be available online for the duration of the festival, and compete for an audience prize.

BIAFF 2020 is running from 13-20 September. Find out more and buy tickets here.