Paata Godziashvili

It’s 2020 and Minsk, the capital city of Belarus, is overflowing with anti-government protests. A dreamy figure – Mara – takes us on a journey alongside the protesting crowds. Mara’s symbolic presence is a stark contrast to the harsh reality of the street. There is a determination to Mara, but also a fragility – as if her persona reflects the collective mental state of the protesters witnessing their dream for freedom turn into a nightmare.

Civil wars, Russian occupation, economic crisis and the challenging process of becoming an independent state don’t give much chance to a normal family life. A 20-year-old man accused of robbery must prove his innocence and earn his father’s trust.

The Criminal Man tells the story of the main engineer of a factory, 25-year-old George Meskhi, who has accidentally witnessed the killing of a famous goalkeeper. All this turns his life upside down. George begins to follow the young and beautiful wife of the goalkeeper and becomes interested in everything related to this crime. He studies the faces of the criminals, looking for a clue to some mystery in them. This is a film about a metamorphosis and about the birth of a murderer.

The plot of the film takes place in a small patio in the center of the southern cosy, sunny city. The frontman of the friendly family decides by any means to find out a possible new lover of his daughter. He is allowed to drink, be angry and know moderately. But he is ready even to fall out with his neighbor and best friend in order to make his daughter happy. But neither he, nor their neighbors, who also worry about the girl, even imagine who is the girl's loved one.

In a patriarchal society, an ordinary Georgian family lives with three generations under one roof. All are shocked when 52-year-old Manana decides to move out from her parents’ home and live alone. Without her family and her husband, a journey into the unknown begins.

Eka and Natia leave their childhood behind and ignore societal customs to escape from their turbulent family lives.

Eka and Natia leave their childhood behind and ignore societal customs to escape from their turbulent family lives.

This German documentary looks inside a nearly idle restaurant in a dowdy building in the country of Georgia, its listless workers waiting for business to pick up. The mournful atmosphere serves as a metaphor for the uncertain future of Georgia.

Stalin’s statue in the garden of a nunnery provokes discussion – plenty of it – in a small Georgian village. Some of the locals used to know Stalin personally because he visited the village several times when he was young, and they continue to see him as a benign ruler from the good old days rather than the brutal dictator he was. Whenever an episode of purge shook the Soviet Union’s republics, they hid the statue in the woods. The church also plays an important role in people’s lives. All in all, the film reveals a fundamental conflict in Georgian society.

A young man is arrested and put into prison for a car accident. His two victims in a coma get into a hospital. The director from his own tragic experience shows us the reverse side of Georgia. Where is the edge to cruelty and sadism, how much can a person bear in a world of absurd injustice and total ridicule? What can you do when you confront the system?

A young man is arrested and put into prison for a car accident. His two victims in a coma get into a hospital. The director from his own tragic experience shows us the reverse side of Georgia. Where is the edge to cruelty and sadism, how much can a person bear in a world of absurd injustice and total ridicule? What can you do when you confront the system?