Levan Gelbakhiani, Bachi Valishvili, Ana Javakishvili
Screened in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes 2019 and selected as the Swedish entry for the Best International Feature at the upcoming Oscars, Swedish-born filmmaker Levan Akin’s (The Circle, Certain People) award-winning new Georgia-set drama explores the possibilities of love, cultural identity, sexuality and self-expression within a repressively anti-LGBTQ+ society.
‘There is no sexuality in Georgian dance!’ So barks the stern, macho dance teacher to Merab (Levan Gelbakhiani), a teenager determined to make it as lead dancer in the National Georgian Ensemble. But the teacher is wrong; when new dancer Irakli (Bachi Valishvili) joins the class, Merab experiences not just competition, but the stirrings of forbidden desire as well.
A gripping love story, And Then We Danced captures the beauty and stifling social values of Tbilisi alongside energetic choreography and an extraordinarily physical lead performance from dancer Levan Gelbakhiani, within a narrative full of moments of grace.
