MAUS Film & Graphic Novel Discussion in FOMO Cinema Tbilisi

RUN SCHEDULE

18:30 Doors open
19:00 ART SPIEGELMAN: DISASTER IS MY MUSE documentary screening
20:40 Short Break
21:00 MAUS docu and Graphic Novel discussion in Georgian
22:00 Drinks and Networking in FOMO Lounge Bar til late

GET YOUR SIGNED COPY OF MAUS!

Guests will also be able to purchase the Georgian translation of MAUS on arrival for 40 GEL (discounted price) and have it signed by translator Mikheil Tsikhelashvili after the event.

LANGUAGE

The documentary will be screened in English with English subtitles.
The graphic novel discussion afterwards will be held in Georgian.

DOCUMENTARY

Molly Bernstein, Philip Dolin | 2024 | USA | 1h38m | Presented in the original English audio with English subtitles

ART SPIEGELMAN: DISASTER IS MY MUSE is a documentary about one of the key figures in modern graphic literature, a cartoonist who changed the status of comics by proving they could carry history, trauma, formal invention and literary weight without losing their visual power. The film looks at Spiegelman’s life and work well beyond MAUS, tracing his path through underground comics, his creative partnership with Françoise Mouly, and the broader culture that shaped him. PBS describes it as an exploration of Spiegelman’s work and the impact of MAUS, while theatrical materials frame it as intimate access to the artist who helped revolutionise comics as an art form.

MAUS remains central to any discussion of graphic novels because it changed the argument. Serialized from 1980 to 1991 and published in book form in 1991, it used Spiegelman’s father’s Holocaust testimony to create a work that was at once memoir, history and formal experiment. In 1992 it became the first graphic novel to receive a Pulitzer Prize, and its place in the canon has only grown since. Its afterlife has also been shaped by censorship battles, including the widely reported 2022 removal of MAUS from an eighth-grade curriculum in Tennessee, which only confirmed how politically alive and culturally potent the book still is.

FILM DISCUSSION

After the screening, Mikheil Tsikhelashvili and Ana Sikharulidze will host a live, informal discussion exploring why MAUS matters not only within comics, but within modern literature more broadly. The conversation will touch on the book’s place in the history of graphic narrative, the reasons it's been challenged and banned in some contexts, the writers, artists and traditions that shaped Spiegelman’s thinking, and the lasting influence his work has had on later generations of cartoonists, writers and readers. Guests are warmly invited to take part, ask questions and join the discussion.

ABOUT YOUR HOSTS

Mikheil Tsikhelashvili is a writer and translator, the author of six books and more than ten translations, and the founder of Materebeli Comics, a publishing house launched in 2025 to bring graphic literature into Georgian, expand comics culture locally, and build live-reading and live-drawing events around the form. Instagram: @mikheilts

Ana Sikharulidze is a stand-up comedian, co-host of the podcast Intellectual Insecurity, and a devoted comic book fan MAUS reader. Instagram: @sikharulidzeana.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND THIS EVENT?

This event is for comic book readers, graphic novel obsessives, MAUS admirers, literature lovers, design nerds, illustrators, translators, publishers, and anyone interested in how words and images can work together at the highest level. It’s also for people who care about censorship, cultural memory, underground publishing, and the way a single book can change an entire art form. If you’ve ever argued that comics deserve to be taken as seriously as any novel, essay or film, this is very much for you. And if you’re simply curious, come anyway. You don’t need to be a specialist to get a lot out of this screening and discussion.

FOOD AND DRINK POLICY: FOMO Cinema Lounge Bar will be in operation throughout the event and will close at 02:00, serving a wide selection of beer, wine, cocktails, and non-alcoholic refreshments including coffee, tea, and fresh hot popcorn. Outside food is allowed in the bar but not in the cinema. No alcohol from outside is allowed. All guests are invited to arrive early and stay late.

LOCATION: FOMO Secret Cinema, Bazari Orbeliani, Tbilisi. A five minute walk from Liberty Square metro.

FOOD AND DRINK POLICY: FOMO Cinema Lounge Bar will be in operation throughout the event and will close at 02:00, serving a wide selection of beer, wine, cocktails, and non-alcoholic refreshments including coffee, tea, and fresh hot popcorn. Outside food is allowed in the bar but not in the cinema. No alcohol from outside is allowed. All guests are invited to arrive early and stay late.

LOCATION

FOMO Secret Cinema, Bazari Orbeliani, Tbilisi. A five minute walk from Liberty Square metro.

HOW TO FIND FOMO

Enter Bazari Orbeliani via Atoneli St above Carrefour and take the stairs on your left to Level 1. Signage on the door. You can also check our Instagram story highlights for a video showing exactly how to find us:
https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17933106294029235/

Enter Bazari Orbeliani via Atoneli St above Carrefour and take the stairs on your left to Level 1. Signage on the door. You can also check our Instagram story highlights for a video showing exactly how to find us:
https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17933106294029235/