National Film Center issues statement regarding “Tear Gas”
The National Film Center is issuing a statement regarding director Uta Beria’s film “Tear Gas.”
According to the National Film Center, since the production company did not submit the finished version of the film “Tear Gas” to the National Film Center, it became impossible to issue approval for the public screening of the film in accordance with the established procedures.
“The film “Tear Gas” is funded by the National Film Center and the production company has received 279,625 GEL from the state budget for the production of the film.
The director of the production company “1991 Productions” LLC informed the National Film Center in a letter that the film would be screened in the “Cineasti del Presente” section of the Locarno Festival. The production company requested the National Film Center to state its position regarding the screening. Since the production company did not submit the finished version of the film “Tear Gas” to the National Film Center, it became impossible to issue a consent for the public screening of the film in accordance with the established procedures.
The National Film Center informed the film’s production company of this circumstance on July 24, 2026, with the relevant legal justification. Also, in order to avoid further possible misunderstandings and/or misinterpretations, the Locarno Film Festival was informed of the circumstances due to which the National Film Center could not issue a consent for the public screening of the film in accordance with the legislation.
It is a well-known fact that any international film festival independently determines the festival program and it is impossible to influence this process.
In addition, it is worth noting that the screening of “Tear Gas” took place on August 12, 2026, while the National Film Center sent a letter to the production company on July 24, 2026, which was quite enough time for the production company to present the completed film at the National Film Center and obtain the right to public screening in compliance with the relevant legal procedures,” the statement reads.
As a reminder, director Uta Beria, whose “Tear Gas” received the Independent Jury Prize at the Locarno International Film Festival on August 15, 2026, stated that “first they tried to prevent me from finishing the film, and now they are trying to prevent the film from reaching the audience.” According to the director, the National Film Center did not provide half of the funding obtained in 2022 during the production process.
As is known, Uta Beria’s feature film won the Independent Jury Prize at the Locarno International Film Festival. Upon accepting the prize, he stated that he would dedicate the award to Mate Devidze, who was arrested during the 2024 Tbilisi protests, whom he called “the youngest political prisoner in Georgia.”