'And Then We Danced' comes to Sundance Film Festival

Actors Bachi Valishvili (centre) and Levan Gelbakhiani (far right) lead the plot of the feature. Still from film.

Agenda.ge, 05 Dec 2019 - 17:17, Tbilisi,Georgia

Levan Akin's award-winning feature And Then We Danced will be part of the line-up at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival next month, bringing a personal story of love to the high-profile cinema event.

The film - Sweden's pick for the next Academy Awards - will be in the Spotlight programme, a "tribute to the cinema we love from throughout the past year" (Sundance).

An international audience, attracted to this largest independent cinema festival in the United States, will see Akin's portrayal of love between two male dancers in a conservative national troupe in Georgia.

Screening as one of seven films in Spotlight, And Then We Danced will highlight the performance of actor Levan Gelbakhiani, honoured with awards at Sarajevo and Valladolid festivals, and Bachi Valishvili in the drama.

 

Premiered at the Directors’ Fortnight festival in Cannes, the feature shows Gelbakhiani's protagonist in an encounter with a newcomer to the company, with their emotional involvement with one another evolving on the backdrop of intolerant attitudes towards their identity both in the group and in the wider public.

Merab, played by Gelbakhiani, "finds himself having to break free and risk everything" after facing his feelings for Irakli, the character brought to the big screen by Valishvili.

Since its release the work has collected numerous prizes at events including the Audience Choice Award at the Chicago International Film Festival and Best Film Award at the Carl International Film Festival. It has also been nominated for the European University Film Award.

Last year's Sundance festival honoured Georgian director Tamta Gabrichidze for her documentary The Trader and screened the short Fatherland by George Sikharulidze, another filmmaker from the country.

The 2020 edition of the popular festival will run between January 23-February 2.