Dancing the revolution!

A movie about youth demonstrations in Georgia "Rive at the Parliament" is released on Russian screens

It all started on May 12, 2018. The police organized raids in two Tbilisi clubs, grabbed and took everyone away, including from the Bassiani club, which is compared with the cult of Berlin Berghain. A new generation was formed in the Bassiani techno club. The invasion of the security forces turned the club into a symbol of disobedience in the face of the state. And people from all over the city flowed to the square to parliament on Rustaveli Street.

The authors of the film Raving Riot are carefully considering a new generation, for which electronic music and freedom turned out to be identical concepts. There are many heroes in the film. Among them, the musician, the writer of techno music, was convicted of nine years for drugs, served five. He was allowed to write his music behind bars on a computer. But even music will not replace him with the opportunity to see how his daughter grows, to listen to how the trees are noisy, to talk with friends about the most important.

And here is the crowd in the light of the evening lanterns. The exciting, unpredictable sea of ​​people outraged by arrests for no reason. They demand the resignation of the Minister of the Interior and the Prime Minister: “If we leave home, they will understand their own impunity!” And someone comes to a simple idea-to cut the techno.

The rave begins and the most unusual rally in history. The parliament froze. And young people do not diverge, they dance the revolution: “We dance together. We are fighting together! "

The square was danced, and in parallel negotiations with government officials were underway.

They were born in the early 90s, when independence was proclaimed in Georgia. They grew up in the absence of electricity, walked along the echoing empty streets (there were problems with public transport). They listened to techno, discussed what was happening in the country, dreamed under psychedelics about the future, danced in squares and clubs. They grew up with the war, so each of their days danced like the last. They look like a generation of flowers. Many smoke grass. And they are looking for their own way to be happy.

Official sources called May events a revolution of drug addicts and sex minorities. The nationalists immediately picked up, went to the square, surrounded the demonstrators. If not for the police ...

But the square did not disperse. Then the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs came out to the demonstrators, called for a peaceful resolution of the conflict and said the words impossible for Russian officials: “You know that each police officer took care of you during this time. And if we do not fulfill our promises given by your representatives, you can again gather in a free city in a free country to dance and listen to music. You are the future of the nation of this country. And everyone who took to the streets these days is important for the future of our country! ”

At first glance, everything seems to be great - the arrested were released. “Two weeks later all clubs opened. We experienced a sense of community, unity. ” The use and storage of marijuana decriminalized. But many have a feeling of disappointment.

"Our protest was turned into a performance, and we were sent home." “They all began to criticize us because we were scared, that we applauded the minister.”

"We won or lost?" “What is Georgia? Struggle, dancing, food. " “Everything was cool. Cool rave, now even the BBC knows that Georgia exists. "

The May rave is just a special case in a series of important protests. Mass protest to the Georgian parliament in 2011, rallies against the Saakashvili government, and finally, the protests of 1989 for the independence of Georgia, which determined the fate of the country.

Raving Riot is a portrait of a youth environment in a political context, a history of growing up and self -awareness as a generation. Yes, Georgia is them. If necessary, they will come out again and will demand from politicians the solutions of the most important issues, including about the integrity of the country - torn today.

The film Stepan Polivanov is trying to reflect on two countries, two torn crops in the context of today's Georgia. Not always convincing and consistently, without analyzing the reasons for the gap between conservative and progressive forces. But not politics is interested in the authors. They are interested in why the majority of the population still thinks that real Georgian should sing folk songs and dance Lezginka, and a smoking girl in a short skirt, dancing until the morning in a nightclub, is a prostitute. In the third part of the film, we encounter people from the hinterland, where traditions respond with a centuries -old echo.

District granny says that current youth has no conscience at all. How do they live? Do they know how to work? What do they hope for?

The directorial debut of Stepan Polivanov, shot along with Stereotactic, is not so much an investigation as a portrait of time, atmosphere, mood. This is an impressionist landscape, snatched from the flesh of reality. In it, the excitement of a heated crowd, the geometry of body movements, poses, strange post -front sentiments. Meditative memories, philosophical chatter, the thoughts of the participants of the rave are the feverish joy of the fresh perception of reality. By mood, the film resembles Mikhal Marchak’s painting about Warsaw youth “All these sleepless nights” .

And now one of the many heroes of the film with bitterness admits: in essence, their protest did not lead to anything. But he again and again returns mentally to those two days - the brightest in his life. He recalls how he watered with water dancing, glowing with anger and hopes. Once again and again, he experiences the instant of joyful freedom, lit by yellow lanterns, which went out so quickly. Dreams of an universal rave.

By the way, a similar case with Bassiani occurred in Moscow-in August 2017 in the Rabitza club. The police suddenly captured the club, just as rudely and brutally grabbed everyone in a row. No reaction - without any resistance, Rabitza closed.

All the "ravers" stood by the parliament

Anna Sarukhanova

The producer of the film

- At the beginning, there was neither the support of the Stereotactic studio, nor a certain plan, there were guys - Step Polivanov, Arina Noskova and Ida Ivanova, who wanted to shoot the dock in Tbilisi. Then this protest suddenly happened, and the topic began to be determined. And then, when it was necessary to interview one of the activists, the first interview for the film, I realized that I want to help in its creation. In order for him to have a look from the inside, there were people who really represent the country now.

Smart, inspired, contradictory, with different points of view, surviving the experience of the 90s, who saw the war in Abkhazia, and very young, those who cannot be said: “Do not lean out, otherwise it may be worse; Remember how it was then. ” It cannot - they know how it is in America, in Europe, they will not intimidate the memories of the dark time of the collapse of the USSR, inherited all of us. This protest, with all the inconsistency, showed that young people are ready to defend their rights.

This youth is the main character of the film, and I am glad that Stepan, the director of the film, so well felt these contradictions, throwing. When you want to commit a revolution, but do not really know how to do it. Of course, this film is not about the fact that the ravers went out to protest for the right to dance in clubs.

This case is just a small point, as the hero of the film Goga Hoshtarius, characterizing the state of minds, are ready to withstand injustice, says.

It is significant how differently the film is perceived in two countries-I was at the premiere in Moscow, and there everyone was so enthusiastic: “Oh, the Minister of the Interior apologized before them! Oh, they were guarded by the police! " And this despite the fact that at the end it is shown: the guys are by no means satisfied with the behavior of the authorities, they feel some kind of performance on her part, they feel that they were simply deceived, used that the Nazis and nationalists themselves could be bought by the government.

Is the Russian protester really only need a minister to apologize to them and take the buses to sleep home?

In Georgia, the film has not yet been shown by anywhere publicly. Several times a week I meet people who ask about him, I have to explain that the Russian company, and the national premiere in Moscow does not contradict participation in large festivals, the participation that we all expect. But at the same time, of course, I want to show him in Georgia. In Tbilisi, I showed it only to a few participants - the main characters. And I must say that the reaction was completely different.

The Russian viewer lacks the context - this very Minister of the Interior (Giorgi Gakharia), who transported everyone on buses, launched such cases a year later, after which they usually resign or may be under trial. Acceleration of the rally on June 20, with the eye knocking out with rubber bullets from close range, with tear gas, a rally provoking a two -month protest near the parliament building in Tbilisi, is actually the responsibility of the very apologized minister. Also, therefore, Georgian spectators say how well it is shown, this devil from a snuff box, who allegedly saved the youth from the "bloody" nationalists.

On the protests on June 20 were all the heroes of the film, again together. This fact once again shows that the film is not about clubs, but about people who are ready to protest and fight for the future. After the bloody acceleration, dozens of people detained. The next day, almost twice as many came to the square, someone with gas masks, someone with protective masks. All the "ravers" who were in the film stood at the parliament, and many took an active part in organizing a rally. You protest every day after work and stand there until the half past night, not because you are not allowed to dance in clubs or you want to free those who were detained in them.

Come because every day the border of your state moves around the warring state, and the government does not take any measures to resolve this issue.

They wrote to me from Moscow: "Is it really because one of the politicians got into the wrong chair?" No, all because the heroes of the film have a certain position: South Ossetia and Abkhazia are Georgia, no one has the right to claim territorial integrity, and if the government does not express the opinion of the people, you need to fight against such a government. This is a clear position. The very youth, striving for the epicurestvo, which is attending the grass in the park, at one moment is in the square in front of the parliament. Where old and young, all layers of society, regardless of the economic, social or political situation. And so two months. After them, people lost faith that a peaceful protest in the square could change something. But a year later, the elections, and no one is going to forget what happened. The minister, by the way, became the Prime Minister. As if in spite of the protesting. The protest is still frozen. You need to survive this winter. But as they say, not evening.