Is a country a shared idea? A common fantasy of its inhabitants? Merely a territory with a border around it, with a parliament, an anthem and a flag? Or does a country embody the sense of natural belonging, of a home?
Globalization has made the world smaller and has brought people closer; nowadays communities can even be virtual. But as Kurds die for a country without a territory, Europe threatens to disintegrate, the President of the USA wants to build a wall at the Mexican border, and a record amount of refugees on the move, the question "what is a country” is, paradoxically, more relevant than ever.
This academic and topical question lies at the basis of a visual and poetic film, set in a small and relatively unknown country: Abkhazia. Bringing together the stories of ordinary Abkhaz in a modern creation myth provides us with a different view on (geo)political, ideological and economic issues worldwide.
Direction: Ineke Smits
Script: Ineke Smits | Co-writer: Arkhip Labakhua
Producer: Ineke Kanters & Jan van der Zanden
Co-producer: Inti Films - Peter Krüger - Belgium
Genre: Documentary
Status: World Premier at DOK Leipzig 2019
Shooting period: 2017/2018
Financiers: Netherlands Filmfund, Mediafund/NPO fund, VAF, Belgium Tax Shelter
Broadcaster: EOdocs
Distributor: MOOOV
Sales: Deckert Distribution