Ireland-UK producer Mike Downey will receive an industry lifetime achievement award at this year’s Batumi International Art-House Film Festival (BIAFF) in Georgia, to recognise his contribution to the local industry.
The producer and former chairman of the European Film Academy will be presented with the award at the closing night of the festival on Saturday, September 26.
Downey has worked in Georgia on a range of films since the early 2000s, largely via his partnership with Tbilisi-based producer Vladimir Katcharava of 20 Steps Productions.
“Mike Downey is a great friend of Georgia and Georgian cinema,” said Katcharava.
Their credits include Ben Hopkins’ 2013 title Lost In Karastan, co-written by Hopkins and Paweł Pawlikowski, which filmed in Tbilisi and was the first UK-Georgia co-production.
Downey and Katcharava also co-produced Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s The President in 2014, Mariam Khatchvani’s 2017 title Dede, set in the harsh, remote historic region of Svaneti, and Rudolph Herzog’s comedy How To Sell A War in 2018.
“Georgia has been like a second home to me over the years,” said Downey, “I am proud and delighted to have played a small part in building this very special and unique industry. The crews I have worked with here have always been world class and the work ethic is above and beyond the call of duty.”
Lasha Khalvashi, managing board member of BIAFF, added: “Mike [Downey] is one of those international producers who discovered the potential of Georgia early and, more importantly, kept coming back. He didn’t simply bring international productions here; he built relationships, worked with Georgian filmmakers and crews, and helped Georgian stories become part of a much wider international film landscape.”
Khalvashi says a lifetime achievement award should recognise more than a successful career. “It should recognise someone whose work has left something behind films, relationships, opportunities and a stronger film culture.”
BIAFF 2026 is also presenting lifetime achievement awards to Agnieszka Holland, whose film Franz screens in the Masters Collection strand and Georgian director Temur Babluani.
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