International Competition

A filmmaker in Georgia posts an ad inviting young people to audition for her film. Facing the camera, the hopeful youngsters confess their struggles and dreams. These raw interviews unfold seamlessly into cinematic slivers of Georgian life. A teenager awaits news of his father’s surgery. A girl anticipates her wedding. The governor of a tiny village faces a monumental decision. A young woman confronts the mother who abandoned her. These extraordinary and touching stories about war, love, dreams and poverty paint a kaleidoscopic picture of a modern society that still echoes with its Soviet past. It is a world where tradition and modernity subtly intermingle: singing traditional ballads is as common a self-expression as listening to hip-hop or playing online poker. But they are all united in the poetry of searching.