[oberlist] [Newsletter] New film: The Plundering

[Oliver Ressler]

The Plundering

A film by Oliver Ressler
40 min, 2013


Exhibitions/Screenings:

“Liquid Assets. In the Aftermaths of the Transformation of Capital”,  
Steirischer Herbst, Graz (A), 21.09. – 01.12.2013
“Agora”, 4th Athens Biennale, Athens (GR), 29.09. – 01.12.2013
Art Sheffield 2013, Sheffield (UK), 03.10. – 14.12.2013
“Skills of Economy Screenings”, Finnish Academy of Fine Arts, Kaiku  
Gallery, Helsinki (FI), 04.10.2013


“We can talk about the ‘plundering’ of Georgia. Public property, which  
in fact should serve the common needs of society, has become the  
property of individuals. For example, if that project became  
successful, the citizens now using this park would not be able to use  
it.” – Mikheil Svanidze, The Plundering


Extreme levels of privatization can only be carried out under  
conditions where people are under severe pressure, as in the  
transformation of former Soviet republics towards independence and  
capitalism. Since the Rose Revolution in 2003, the former Soviet  
republic Georgia under went such a radical transformation. President  
Mikheil Saakashvili implemented one of the most extreme neoliberal  
projects in the world. Today, Georgia is 9th of 185 states in the  
World Bank ranking “Ease of Doing Business”. While the “common good  
accumulated within the communist regime during 70 years of its  
existence” (Rusudan Mirzikashvili, The Plundering) is being sold off,  
the unstable situation in a radical, free-market economy and the  
liquidation of most social safety nets drove most Georgian residents  
into un-experienced levels of poverty.

The film The Plundering focuses on four cases of aggressive, state- 
property privatization policies in Tbilisi. Through interviews, it  
discusses the privatization of the water system in Tbilisi and of  
Tbilisi’s popular market, the Dezerter Bazaar. A newly emerging  
movement prevented the attempted sell-off of the National Scientific  
Library, and the destruction and conversion of the historical  
Gudiashvili Square in Tbilisi’s city center into a shopping mall.
“Objects of strategic importance were sold to the benefit of some  
people close to the government”, Levan Asabashvili describes these  
processes of systemic corruption in the film. Usually the purchasers  
are hiding behind companies registered offshore.


Director and producer: Oliver Ressler
Camera: Niko Tarielashvili
Sound recording and film editing: Oliver Ressler
Sound design, mix and color correction: Rudolf Gottsberger
Music: Erekle Deisadze & Vinda Folio: Agurit Khelshi
Interviewees: Levan Asabashvili, Ani Chankotadze, Giorgi Chubinidze,  
Alexandre Elisashvili, Nino Gujaraidze, Lasha Kharazi, Zurab  
Kukuladze, Rusudan Mirzikashvili, Mikheil Svanidze
Translation: Soso Chauchidze
Organization and production assistance: Data Chigholashvili, Soso  
Chauchidze, Nini Palavandishvili, Ana Ramazashvili, Katharina Tchelidze
Special thanks to Nini Palavandishvili, Data Chigholashvili, Katerina  
Gregos, Luigi Fassi

The film was recorded in May 2013 in Tbilisi, Georgia in the framework  
of the GeoAIR Residency Program, commissioned by steirischer herbst  
festival, Graz and Art Sheffield 2013, supported by Otto Mauer Fonds  
and BMUKK.


Further information and film excerpt:
http://www.ressler.at/the_plundering/

German project description: http://www.ressler.at/de/the_plundering/


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