Culture minister appoints “pro-Kremlin” activists in national film centre amid protests – opposition MP

Khatia Dekanoidze, an opposition MP, on Tuesday accused the country’s culture minister Thea Tsulukiani of “fighting culture and identity” by appointing “pro-Kremlin” activists from the “pro-governmental POSTV channel” in managerial posts of the country’s national film centre. 

 

“One of the propagandists of POSTV, who openly engages in anti-Western, Russian propaganda, and uses hate speech, has been appointed in the centre”, Dekanoidze said, pointing to ongoing protests of the centre’s employees against Tsulukiani’s decisions. 

 

Bacho Odisharia, the host of the channel, on Tuesday confirmed he had been appointed as the deputy head of the film production department at the centre, claiming he would be involved in the agency’s reorganisation. 

 

“I will get involved in the [ongoing] reorganisation and study how the film center operates and functions”, Odisharia said, pledging to ensure efforts to “resolve problems”. 

 

The centre’s staff is demanding the suspension of the reorganization process and selecting a new chair by a commission composed of the field’s professionals. 

 

They claim the minister, who has appointed a former law enforcement official Koba Khubunaia as an acting chair of the centre, is trying to “bring [domestic] cinematography under the political conjuncture”.