Los Angeles/ December 2016 – The International Press Academy (IPA) is proud to honor Rusudan Glurjidze with the Special Achievement Award for Best First Feature for her dramatic gripping personal story depicted in the film “House of Others” for the 21st Annual Satellite™ Awards.
The 44-year-old filmmaker’s first feature is also named as a candidate for Georgia in the 89th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film.
Described in Variety as “an exquisite, evocative and elusive tale of abandonment and the psychological scars of war,” “House of Others” was inspired by the director’s real-life drama after a violent and traumatic civil war between Abkhazia and Georgia in the 1990’s.
In the film a father, mother and two children are assigned to relocate to a rural countryside home, previously occupied by the enemy. Every wall, piece of furniture, and doorway lingers with the ghostly memories of the past owners. The victors are haunted by guilt over the occupation of the conquered land and the private home they now inhabit which seems to still reflect the horrors experienced by the previous owners.
Critics point out that the movie betrays none of the unsteadiness of a neophyte. “Orchestrating the outstanding work from each below-the-line department like a virtuoso, Glurjidze’s formal boldness yields an effect that is subtle, strange and silvery.”
Past honorees by the IPA for their outstanding first feature include Jayro Bustamante for “Ixcanul” and Paddy Considine for “Tyrannosaur”.
