Christmas houses of Kazreti
Christmas houses of Kazreti
The end of 2020 in a small industrial community located between gold mines.
Kazreti is the largest mining settlement in Georgia. Most of the locals are employed in the mining industry and have no connection to the outside world unless something happens at the mines. Even the media never mentions them unless there’s a protest or a strike in Kazreti. So, almost no one knows anything about their everyday lives, how they see the world, and what they’re interested in. The documentary Christmas houses of Kazreti is a kind of a panorama where you can see different people sharing their wishes, dreams, goals, worries, and happiness.
Director's note:
“Historically, humanity has experienced devastating pandemics before. However, facing the coronavirus here and now was still a big revelation. In an instant, everyday life has turned upside down. From a larger perspective, one issue stood out to me - the way the state used the pandemic as a mechanism for controlling citizens and displaying its power. This intensified the existing sense of injustice in the population. Acts of social solidarity that followed were most striking. New opportunities for forging relationships and social bonds emerged. We assigned new meaning to compassion and caring for each other as citizens. In this strange and difficult year, it was particularly interesting for us as filmmakers to observe closely a small industrial town that is largely given to oblivion by the state outside of its mining strikes.”