Maša Drndic

MA in Arts (cinematograhy)

Throughout my residency in the Saari Residence, I intend to develop a script for a documentary film project. I will build the script based on the materials (interviews, footage, media reports, talk shows and articles) that I have shot and gathered throughout my stay in Georgia in Summer 2013.

The starting point of the film is an event that happened on May 17, 2013 when Georgian LGBT community and the allies gathered on the occasion of the International Day against Homophobia and Transophobia (IDAHO) to hold silent protest in the capital of Georgia, Tbilisi. The rally never took place as few thousands of conservative counter-protestors (estimated around 40 000 people), led by priests of the Georgian Orthodox Church, broke through police cordons, and attacked the LGBT activists.

Throught the film we follow the personal stories of the activists and community members, that try to survive in the hostile society, find diverse solutions to avoid the violence directed toward the community, or to overcome the frustration that they experience daily. This work is engaged in discussing complexity of the relationship between individuals and their surroundings. I seek to explore individual as well as collective expressions of identity, belonging, memories.