King Erekle – Reportage from History, a new feature documentary film by Vasil Maglapheridze, debuted today in Telavi, Georgia’s Kakheti region.

The film depicts Erekle II as a politician as well as the geopolitical situation in Georgia before and during his reign.

One of the channel’s priorities, GPB Director General Tinatin Berdzenishvili has said, is to focus on documentaries.

“We are delighted that regional premieres of our films are becoming increasingly prevalent. The fact that the first showing of King Erekle’s film takes place in Telavi is highly meaningful. On February 18-19, GPB First Channel will broadcast its TV debut. It took a long time to prepare for and produce the film. It had been planned before the pandemic, but the employed novel techniques made the wait worthwhile. The audience is in for a magnificent voyage into the past,” Tinatin Berdzenishvili said.

According to the film’s author, GPB Board of Trustees chair Vasil Maglapheridze, working on this feature documentary began in time for Erekle II’s 300th anniversary but the process was delayed due to the Covid outbreak.

“We need history to look back, take lessons from it, and even anticipate the future. The Erekle era is a very profound area of study, and it offers solutions to many possible developments. Here is the geopolitical storm in which Georgia was entangled. This is the story of how Erekle and others struggled to save a small country from the geopolitical maelstrom,” he continued.

According to Giorgi Gvimradze, Head of GPB’s News and Current Affairs, the film’s leitmotif aims to grasp the international context in which Erekle II reigned.

“It portrays developments in other countries, whatever is happening around us, and what King Erekle had to reflect on,” Gvimradze explained.

GPB First Channel will air the documentary by Vasil Maghlapheridze on February 18–19 at 22:00.