Georgian filmmaker Ana Urushadze says her Sarajevo competition entry “Supporting Role” was completed as censorship protests and a funding boycott intensified

Georgian director Ana Urushadze said she was able to get her Sarajevo competition film, Supporting Role, finished only shortly before what she described as a “dead-end situation” for the Georgian film sector worsened. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter published Tuesday, Urushadze connected the timing of her production to mounting industry disruptions, including censorship-related protests and a boycott of a state funding agency.

Supporting Role follows a fading actor and his journey through Tbilisi, according to the film description in The Hollywood Reporter. Urushadze said the work came together in a period when artists were increasingly confronting the pressure points that shape what gets financed and what gets approved, and she framed the experience as both personal and procedural.

Urushadze indicated that her path to completion depended on how quickly the film could move through production before the broader climate tightened. She also said she did not intend to stop making films despite the escalating turmoil, adding, “I don't want to stop doing what I love.”

The interview ties the film’s release timeline to protests and boycotts directed at state cultural financing, with Urushadze describing how the “dead-end situation” grew worse around the time her entry cleared that window. The article characterizes the developments as part of a wider industry pushback against censorship and related mechanisms of oversight.

The disruptions referenced in the report also reflect how cultural institutions and funding processes can become central in times of contention. Urushadze’s account suggests filmmakers were weighing their ability to complete projects against a shifting administrative and political environment, which can influence casting, schedules, and the continuity of production work.

While Supporting Role is positioned in the article as her Sarajevo competition entry, the report’s description focuses less on festival logistics and more on the conditions under which the film was completed. Urushadze’s comments underscore that the film’s journey to an international competition setting was influenced by domestic unrest over state involvement in the arts.

As the film prepares for audiences beyond Georgia, the next practical question is how the industry environment will affect other projects currently in development and the availability of public support. For viewers, the timeline described by Urushadze provides context for the film’s creation and for why its completion carried additional urgency during a period of contested cultural governance.