On November 12, a documentary film about Georgian activist Emzo Kvaratskhelia will premiere at the Melbourne Queer Film Festival. This is one of Australia’s oldest and largest queer festivals, screening over 140 feature films, shorts and documentaries each year.
The Pride Liar is the name of the story, and was filmed by Andrés Lübbert, director from Chile and Belgium. It is about emigration, activism, the fight against Russian disinformation, and daily life of Emzo.
Emzo agreed to a couple of spoilers, but told us that it’s better to find out after the premiere why the movie is called The Pride Liar. The director gave us the opportunity to see the film before it was presented at the festival – we can’t tell you everything, but we can say that the secret of the name is revealed in the first couple minutes.
Lübbert met Emzo 2 years ago at the Red Star Line Museum. An exhibition on migrants was held there, one of the characters of which was a Georgian activist. Lübbert tells us that the stories of immigrants are especially emotional for him, because his father had to leave Chile because of the Pinochet dictatorship. Emzo seemed so sincere that he became interested in his life.
“I think he can be a source of inspiration for many people, because he presents himself as a person who fights for his ideals, beliefs, human rights and queers in Georgia and the world with everything he has.
Even if he is beaten or in a hostile environment, as seen in the film, he is very brave. Even if his country does not allow him to be what he is, he remains a great patriot of it. He can be very weak, but at the same time he has a lot of inner strength,” said Lübbert when asked why he chose Emzo as the main character.
Still from the movie The Pride Liar
Emzo left Georgia 5 years ago. Now he lives in Belgium – he works to improve the legal rights of people, and despite the distance, he does not give up on the life of a Georgian activist.
“I came here because of homophobic problems. I was a representative of the Zugdidi office of the Equality Movement and I had problems in the region. After coming out, threats of violence added up, people tried to physically come to the office, throw stones. During this period, after May 17, 2018, I decided to leave”, Emzo briefly tells us about the reasons for leaving the country. In short, because he has talked about this topic many times over the years, he prefers to talk about new experiences more than the past.
The beginning of emigration was not easy. He says that he lived in the shelter for 3 months, but he doesn’t want to remember it because of the conditions there. The language barrier and the foreign environment were the main problems. He could not go to school or work for a year. Then he got employed in different places. He was a janitor, a store consultant, a cashier. After learning the language, he was able to find a job where he feels good. 2 years ago, he started working with the victims of the war in Ukraine in the Red Cross, now he is a social worker of a project supporting Ukraine in a local organization.
In addition with his service, Emzo devotes special energy to organizing protest meetings together with Georgian immigrants in Belgium, who he met at the protests and with whom he founded the Promote Georgia organization.
Promote Georgia held a protest during the visit of the Prime Minister of Georgia, Irakli Gharibashvili, to Belgium. The shot taken there, when Georgian government security and Belgian law enforcement officers are forcibly taken out of Emzo territory, became the poster of the film.
Still from the movie The Pride Liar
Emzo tells us that the director followed him at work, at home, at protests for 6 months. That’s how the incident with Gharibashvili got into the movie. Because of filming, he had a microphone attached, so in the film you can hear what Emzo and the Georgian security guards were arguing about on the stairs.
What else will you see in the movie? An ordinary morning of Emzo, work environment, meetings with Georgian queer activists, thoughts about family and homeland, organizing protests, proudly swinging the Georgian flag at the Belgian Pride, caring for Georgia’s European future, fighting against Russian propaganda and many other interesting details.
“Perhaps, someone else should evaluate it, but my goal was to expose the Georgian government as pro-Russian in this film. This is the main thing to say, and in my opinion, it’s expressed well in the film,” says Emzo.
According to Emzo, as long as he has the power, he will create discomfort for Irakli Gharibashvili and the members of his government everywhere, because he considers it a treacherous government and “he has no other language to speak with them”.
“I’m sure Emzo’s story will touch the hearts of people living in Australia, just like mine,” says the director.
We asked both Emzo and Lübbert whether Georgian viewers will be able to see this movie. Both have the desire, but the details are not yet known.
“If there is an opportunity, it would be good to show the film in Georgia. But I think this may cause some problems, because it does not present Prime Minister Irakli’s policy in a positive light,” Lubert answered.
Our readers have the opportunity to see a few shots from the film before the general public gets to know it.
Still from the movie The Pride Liar
Still from the movie The Pride Liar
Still from the movie The Pride Liar
Still from the movie The Pride Liar
Still from the movie The Pride Liar