Baku Today, Azerbaijan
Aug 20 2004
Presidents of Russia and Armenia Meet In Sochi
Russian and Armenian Presidents are to discuss issues of recovery of
situation in the Caucasus during their today meeting in Sochi.
According to Russian media, Moscow and Yerevan are seriously
concerned with aggravation of situation in the Southern Osetia. That
is why Putin and Kocharian plan to have “a thorough exchange of
opinions” with aim to apply regional mechanisms and also peacemaking
possibilities of CIS.
It is planned to examine interaction issues within frames of
organization of Agreement on collective security, and joint measures
in the struggle against terrorism just as well.
Besides, Parties are to consider the issues of realization of
bilateral agreements in the sphere of trade and investments, in the
spheres of energy and transport.

Athens2004, Greece – Olympics official website
Aug 20 2004
Men’s 85kg : Dimas goes for fourth Olympic gold

ATHENS, 20 August – Pyrros Dimas, of Greece, will try tomorrow
(Saturday) to become the first weightlifter to win four consecutive
Olympic gold medals.

The 33-year-old dominated the light heavyweight (85kg) category in
Barcelona, Atlanta and Sydney and now seeks victory in front of his
fans in Athens. But the task will not be easy as Dimas is recovering
from knee and shoulder injuries and more recently he’s had a problem
with his wrist.

Australia’s Sergo Chakhoyan has the highest entry total among the 11
competitors with 392.5kg and that’s 7.5kg more than Dimas. However,
at their last meeting in Sydney the Armenian-born Chakhoyan finished
in sixth place, 12.5kg behind gold medal winner Dimas.

In 2000 three athletes lifted the same weight (390kg), but the Greek
won gold on bodyweight difference from Mark Huster (GER), now a
television commentator, and George Asanidze (GEO) who will be
competing tomorrow after recovering from an elbow injury.

YUAN Aijun (CHN) will be a strong contenter, having won silver in the
world championships in Vancouver last November.

The gold medallist in Canada was Valeriu Calancea (ROM) who a few
weeks later was seriously injured in the Olympic Games’ test event at
Nikaia Weightlifting Hall. He dislocated his elbow and damaged bones,
but has had a remarkable recovery and now is a medal contenter.

Turkey’s Izzet INCE and Aleksandr Anishchanka, of Belarus, could
figure among the place getters, while 22-year-old Georgios Markoulas,
seen as Greece’s succesor to Dimas, cannot be ignored as he won
silver in the Clean and Jerk in Kiev’s European Champioships.

Meanwhile, in Women’s competition, two Sydney medallists, Agata
Wrobel (POL) and Cheryl Haworth (USA), will meet again in the Women’s
Super-Heavyweight +75kg class in the Athens Olympic Games.

Wrobel won the silver medal in 2000 when she was only 19 and today
(Friday) she celebrated her 23rd birthday. Haworth, at 17, was even
younger in Sydney and in Athens she carries America’s hopes for a
medal in weightlifting.

Between them and gold is China’s TANG Gonghong, holder of world
records for total (302.5kg) and Clean and Jerk (175kg).

Albina Khomich (RUS), who will be 28 next week, has been a
place-getter over the past decade in all major championships in which
she’s competed.

South Korea’s Jang Mi Ran and Hungary’s Viktoria Varga who lifted the
same weight in Vancouver will be challenging for a place in the top
five.

Greece’s hopes rest with Vassiliki KASAPI who is expected to
establish new personal best and national records.

Tomorrow’s program:
10:30 Men’s 85kg Group B
16:30 Women’s +75kg Group A
20:00 Men’s 85kg Group A

Eurasianet Organization
Aug 20 2004
GEORGIAN FILM: STILL WAITING FOR A COMEBACK
Elizabeth Owen: 8/20/04
Two years ago, hopes ran high that Georgia’s once-celebrated film
industry was finally on the cusp of a comeback. Now, with little sign
of an economic upturn in sight, filmmakers tend to be pessimistic
about the future. Many are hoping the beleaguered and distracted
Georgian government will come to the rescue. A few, however, say
hopes for a revival will depend on filmmakers’ own ability to adapt
to the times, paying attention not only to cinematic style, but also
to managing costs and marketing.
“In 10 years, everything has been destroyed,” filmmaker Nana
Janelidze, a scriptwriter for the 1987 glasnost sensation
“Repentance,” said in a phone interview from Tbilisi. “To develop
again, it will take years and years. We need money and the desire,
and no one’s interested in that.”
Younger, more market-oriented directors blame that failure on an
inability to realize that filmmaking depends as much on business
savvy as artistic acumen. Other filmmakers, who gained acclaim during
the Soviet era, still look to the government to pick up the slack,
arguing that just like Georgian tourism or wine — the state has a
responsibility to promote a national industry.
“There’s a Georgian saying: ‘Show me a problem, and I’ll show you how
to run,'” said Giorgi Dolidze, dean of the Georgian State Institute
of Theater and Film, about the ongoing debate.
In 2002, it was all supposed to turn out differently. Under a 2000
law, parliament allocated 500,000 lari (about $250,000) for creation
of a National Film Center, associated with the Ministry of Culture,
to fund promising film projects. An additional 80,000 lari, or
$40,000, was set aside for a competition for young filmmakers.
At the time, the news was heralded as a sign that the stagnation
which had handicapped Georgian filmmaking since the collapse of the
Soviet Union was at an end. But, as corruption and tax arrears ate
into the state budget, film financing slowed to a trickle. In an
interview in April, National Film Center Director Zaza Urachavadze
said that he was still waiting for the state to hand over funds for
the previous year.
“[President Mikheil] Saakaskhvili said that he would increase the
amount, but we haven¹t seen any of it,” said Urachavadze.
The 2004 budget of $450,000 is meant to support five documentaries,
five feature films and five shorts, but Urachavadze conceded that the
funds will only allow the center to help low-budget films. The total
allotted to each director is expected to defray less than 6 percent
of their estimated costs. They will be on their own to come up with
the remainder of financing for film projects.
To find the funds to keep their projects alive, directors rely on
family and friends, contest award money, or, for better known
Georgian filmmakers, co-production deals with foreign film companies.
It is a hand-to-mouth existence that some film professionals blame on
the past, when Georgia Film, a powerhouse for Soviet filmmaking,
freely funded projects without considering costs or, sometimes, even
reading a script. Exploring new forms of cinematic technique was the
focus, not the mechanics of bringing a film to market.
“The problem is that filmmaking is not a pure art. It’s an industry,”
noted Rusudan Pirveli, whose short film “Neighbors” won the 2001
Grand Prix at the Locarno Video Art Festival. “The film industry
should be revived with the help of economists and lawyers, not just
filmmakers.”
Sitting in an editing suite darkened by one of Tbilisi¹s temporary
blackouts, Irakli Metreveli, a partner in the privately run Griffon
Film Studios, agreed. He cited the Czech Republic as the model for
Georgia’s film revival. In 2003, Prague’s film studios earned an
estimated $300 million from American and European companies, which
were attracted to the country as a low-cost, market-friendly filming
location, according to the entertainment industry journal Variety.
“We have a strong filmmaking tradition, beautiful locations and it’s
possible to make films all year long,” Metreveli said. “The only
problem is that Georgia is a small point on the big map of the world.
Nobody knows that there exists such a country as Georgia.”
To learn how to make that mark, filmmakers are focusing on a
$1.2-million film training program for Georgia, Armenia and
Azerbaijan sponsored by the Swiss Agency for Development and
Cooperation (SDC). In a bid to encourage what SDC spokesperson Thomas
Jenatsch terms “a culture of debate within the emerging civil
society,” the AVANTI program this spring allocated $420,000 in
funding for six short films, three documentaries and six feature
films proposed by Caucasian filmmakers. The agency also plans to set
aside roughly $500,000 for a regional film center.
Meanwhile, as film contracts dry up, television has become the
profession of choice. Imedi A Holding, owner of one of the country¹s
largest private television channels, now runs Georgia Film. But while
television films and series may provide work opportunities, some
filmmakers worry that the emphasis on “low quality” television
undermines the tradition of Georgian cinematography.
“That quality that Georgian films had, that lightness, that humor,
will be lost,” said Janelidze, who saw work on a television film
project she was overseeing grind to a halt when the sponsoring
station shut down earlier this year. “There’s a whole generation of
people who do not know Georgian film. … This is a matter for the
state to resolve.”
Looking to the government to take the initiative after the false
starts of the past may seem an unlikely scenario, but filmmakers who
rose to prominence in Georgian cinema’s cash-rich Soviet days
maintain that no other option exists.
“It’s not like Hollywood, where if one studio closes no one notices,”
said Rezo Chkeidze, the longtime general manager of Georgia Film, and
a veteran industry player whose own distribution of state funds for
studio film projects has been the subject of some controversy. “We’re
a small country. The arts have always been at the center of our
identity, and for us to survive they must continue.”
Still, even in an industry that has seen many of its finest directors
leave Georgia in search of work in France, Germany or Russia,
optimism dies hard. With an enrollment “boom” underway at the
country¹s film school — 131 new students are expected for the
2004-2005 academic year — a state-sponsored turnaround is just a
matter of time, stressed Dolidze.
“Right now, the new government is very focused on restoring Georgia’s
territorial integrity. But once that integrity is restored, without a
doubt, in the near future we expect big changes,” Dolidze said. [For
background see the Eurasia Insight archive]
Others are not holding their breath.
“At a funeral not long after the collapse of the Soviet Union, I saw
a well-known film director and asked him what he was working on. He
just said ‘I’m waiting,'”Chkeidze recalled. “More than a decade has
gone by, and still, we’re all waiting.”
Editor’s Note: Elizabeth Owen is a freelance writer specializing in
political issues in the Caucasus.
From: Baghdasarian

ITAR-TASS, Russia
Aug 20 2004
Levitin to co-chair Russian-Armenian intergovernmental commission
SOCHI, August 20 (Itar-Tass) — Russian investments in the Armenal
Armenian Company will total $36 million within 12-14 months,
President Vladimir Putin said after Friday negotiations with his
Armenian counterpart Robert Kocharyan.
`I have spoken to some of the Russian participants in the project. It
is the matter of not so much financing as technical decisions. The
work has been on for four months, and it will be done on time,’ Putin
said.
The president also said he expected bilateral trade and economic
cooperation to intensify with the help of the Russian-Armenian
intergovernmental commission. He said he had appointed Transport
Minister Igor Levitin as the Russian cochairman of the commission.

Agence France Presse
Aug 20 2004
Putin To Visit Armenia Early Next Year

MOSCOW, Aug 20 (AFP) – Russian President Vladimir Putin said he will
visit his Armenian counterpart, Robert Kocharian, in Armenia early
next year and has renewed offers to mediate the decade-old conflict
in Nagorny Karabakh, the Russian media reported Friday.
Russia is ready to act as a “mediator and guarantor” of a negotiated
settlement in Nagorny Karabakh, an ethnically Armenian enclave of
Azerbaijan, Putin said according to Russian news service Interfax.
A 1994 ceasefire after a bloody four-year conflict left Armenian
forces in control of the enclave and surrounding Azeri regions.
Azerbaijan has said it is determined to force Armenian troops out of
the territory.
Along with France and the United States, Russia is part of the
so-called Minsk Group seeking a peaceful solution to the conflict.
No specific date was set for Putin’s trip.

ITAR-TASS, Russia
Aug 20 2004
Armenian president satisfied with negotiations with Putin

SOCHI, August 20 (Itar-Tass) — Armenian President Robert Kocharyan
said he was satisfied with the negotiations with Russian counterpart
Vladimir Putin, including the quick and efficient decision-making.
`Vladimir Putin got in touch with his ministers and gave them
instructions during the negotiations. I think that this style is very
efficient,’ Kocharyan said.
Putin confirmed that he had spoken to Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov,
Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin and Transport Minister Igor Levitin by
phone during the negotiations. `We had that possibility thanks to the
local conditions for the press and the presidents,’ Putin said with
the smile looking at the new press center opened at the Bocharov
Ruchei residence earlier this month.

ITAR-TASS, Russia
Aug 20 2004
Putin confirms erroneousness of autonomous status abolition

SOCHI, August 20 (Itar-Tass) — Russian President Vladimir Putin
confirmed that he regards as erroneous Georgia’s abolition of the
autonomous status of South Ossetia and Abkhazia in the early 1990s.
`It is absurd to deny that the decision on South Ossetia was made,’
Putin replied to the question about his criticism. `We have copies of
the documents, which abolished the autonomous status. They were
signed by Zviad Gamsakhurdia, and we are ready to present them,’ he
said.
`As for Abkhazia, that decision was made de facto, without legal
confirmation,’ Putin said. `The latest statements of Abkhaz leaders
and the life itself show that.’
Putin does not think that his judgment of Georgian actions following
the disintegration of the former Soviet Union, including the
abolition of the autonomous status of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, was
too harsh. Several days ago he said that the actions were `stupid.’
`Mikhail Saakashvili [told me] at our meetings that he also regarded
the decisions made on South Ossetia in the 1990s as erroneous,’ Putin
said. `So I said nothing unexpected.’
Putin called on all parties to the South Ossetian conflict to abide
by agreements.
`There is only one way out: to start negotiations, reach agreements
and have political will to implement them,’ he said after
negotiations with Armenian President Robert Kocharyan.
`There is will be no results’ if the [Joint Control] Commission would
make decisions in the morning and representatives of a member country
of the Commission would disavow the decisions in the evening, Putin
said. `I hope that all parties will show political maturity and
responsibility in the interests of their peoples,’ Putin said.

ITAR-TASS, Russia
Aug 20 2004
Putin reiterates Russia readiness to mediate in Karabakh conflict

SOCHI, August 20 (Itar-Tass) – President Vladimir Putin reiterated
Russia’s readiness to act as a mediator and guarantor in the
settlement of the Karabakh conflict.
“We have discussed the Karabakh problem; the discussions focused on
the search for additional opportunities to maintain dialogue and
resolve the problem,” Putin said after his talks with Armenian
President Robert Kocharyan.
“No breakthrough decisions have been made, but it’s important to note
the parties’ wish to look for a compromise,” Putin said, “it seemed
to me that both the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents have such a
mood.”
Russia, as in other cases, is ready to act only in one capacity –
that of a mediator and guarantor, if its efforts are needed and the
parties to negotiations wish it, according to the head of the Russian
state.
Speaking about the situation in southern Caucasus in general, Putin
noted that “we have inherited many conflicts.”
“Hopefully, the understanding of the necessity to establish relations
between people living in the region will prevail over ambitions, and
in the course of the search for a compromise we’ll be resolving these
conflicts,” the Russian president said.

ITAR-TASS, Russia
Aug 20 2004
Putin urges South Ossetian conflict parties to abide by accords

SOCHI, August 20 (Itar-Tass) — President Vladimir Putin has called
on all parties to the South Ossetian conflict to abide by agreements.
`There is only one way out: to start negotiations, reach agreements
and have political will to implement them,’ he said after
negotiations with Armenian President Robert Kocharyan.
`There is will be no results’ if the [Joint Control] Commission would
make decisions in the morning and representatives of a member country
of the Commission would disavow the decisions in the evening, Putin
said. `I hope that all parties will show political maturity and
responsibility in the interests of their peoples,’ Putin said.

iofilm, UK
Aug 20 2004
Edinburgh Film Festival 2004 – Day Two
EIFF 2004 Diary: Day Two
Super Size Me proves to be an extra large hit and the director, super
nice.
By Douglas Bell

Edinburgh venues have a tendency to be far too hot during August.
Whether it’s a local joke to provoke tourists or just a problem with
the old venues, today seemed a welcome exception as the cruel heat
stayed at bay. The enormous UGC at Fountainbridge seems best equipped
with air conditioning, so at least you may sit in comfort whilst you
watch the abysmal Hungarian murder movie After The Day Before. This
time it’s Hungarian inbreds who are all cross-wired, rather than the
more dangerous Belgian kind.
A jigsaw of non-linear events have been thrown together and you have
to pick up the pieces. It makes you suspicious of everyone from the
start, and unfortunately, suspicious that nothing is ever going to
happen in the movie.
The film festival offers an abundance of foreign productions this
year and they are not all of this standard. The Filmhouse is hosting
the Armenian black and white Documantarist which drew oohs and aahs
from the audience with its emotional observations of a damaged
nation. The caesarean births may put you off your Deuchars at the
Filmhouse bar afterwards, but there’s plenty mind broadening stuff
out there for all to see.
If you thought that the World’s Weirdoes all perform on The Royal
Mile, you should see some of the ones caught on film. It seems that
nothing has escaped the camera as even butt-naked coal-covered Dutch
diggers adorn the screens with their coal black buttocks and communal
shower scenes.
Today’s big show was undoubtedly Super Size Me, which had its UK
premiere at the UGC, introduced by the director/victim himself, the
spellbinding Morgan Spurlock. The anticipation surrounding this movie
is like no other and it leaves no-one in any doubt whatsoever about
how they feel about McDonald’s. I was sneaky enough to get into the
packed theatre to witness Spurlock’s witty intro. With the same
humour he uses to get his powerful message across on film, the man
had everyone at ease and craving for more.
Having seen the movie, he took his wife to the bar whilst Edinburgh
sat through his gastric study. He was delighted to chat with your
diarist and had no pretence about his work and the film’s incredible
success. Spurlock is very smart and modest. His ability to be
perfectly normal is one of his most endearing qualities and it’s a
powerfully authoritative way to get people to listen to something
that should be obvious – McDonalds will not make you happy, nor
healthy.
His next piece may well end up being called `Would you like salt and
sauce with that?’ as I suggested he try the Rose Street Fry whilst in
town. He was amused by the recent closure of McDonald’s at the UGC
too, although he refused to take any credit for it. This man made the
fast food giant take the supersize option away from an addicted
America, and yet he boasts of nothing.
We joked about the weight that he’s lost over the last few months
eating little more than aeroplane food as he follows his success
wherever it calls him. We were very lucky to have him here in
Edinburgh and he felt lucky to be here. We should all watch his movie
as he went through Hell to do us all a favour. It’s also a great
documentary and amongst my favourites. Somehow, I think that it will
have a profound effect on the way we think about food. Even those who
already hate junk food should go and see it. It’ll be good for you.