International correspondent

Georgian director Rusudan Glurjidze, whose drama “The Antique” depicts the mass deportation of Georgians from the country by Russian authorities, claimed on Friday that she is being censored by an ongoing Russian campaign against the film and pleaded for support after the film was prevented from screening at the Venice Film Festival.

“The Antique” is set in Russia in 2006 and is about the deportation of thousands of Georgians from the country at the time. It was selected by the Venice Days section, a body run independently of the Venice Biennale.

As previously reported, sidebar organizers and the festival's parent organization, the Venice Biennale, canceled a press and industry screening of "The Antique" scheduled for Wednesday after prominent Italian media lawyer Bruno Della Ragione, who was hired by three production companies — Russia's Viva Film, Croatia's Avantura Film and Cyprus' Pygmalion — obtained an emergency injunction from the Venice Court over an alleged copyright dispute involving the film's script, according to a statement from Venice Days.