CESSMIR alumna Gaëlle le Pavic, CESSMIR partner Lennart Soberon and Belgian-Georgian-Ahkhazian filmmaker Elena Mikberidze are working on a short film that explores life along the Abkhazian–Georgian contested border that has hardened since the 1994 ceasefire and is now reactivated by Russia’s war on Ukraine. The film follows a young adult Georgian girl during a summer spent in Samegrelo, Georgia. While the older members of the family remember a borderless past, she has never been to Abkhazia nor knows any Abkhaz and wonders about how to get out of this conflict divide. Through her family stories, the film captures how politics cuts through personal ties, but also how everyday life unfolds in a beautiful natural landscape where scares are not directly visible but still permeate. The film offers a reflection on the cost of (contested) borders and highlights the desire for a new generation to go beyond past conflicts. This project is supported by the Societal Valorisation Fund of Ghent University. Interested? Want more info? Mail gaelle.lepavic@ugent.be and lennart.soberon@hogent.be
Photo: Lennart Soberon