WHEN THE EARTH SEEMS TO BE LIGHT

When the vast sky opens up above Tbilisi, the whirring of insect wings mixes with the sound of hard rubber wheels rolling across the pavement. Skaters. The young people are united by their fascination for the sport and their dreams of a brighter future. Far removed from mainstream conservative structures and school, the directors of WHEN THE EARTH SEEMS TO BE LIGHT follow young musicians, artists and skaters as they attempt to find their place in post-Soviet Georgia. At the centre of the film are their notions of freedom, their expectations of themselves and others and of what is to come, as well as those all-time classics love and happiness, but also the question of whether they are perhaps trying to avoid reality. Just watching you can almost feel that moment of midair levity that happens right before landing an ollie. But at the same time it’s not on the skateboard alone that the question persists: “What about when you fall and it’s painful?” – “It’s whatever. It doesn’t really matter.” With their documentary, the filmmakers have managed to create an aesthetically and musically gripping work that opens up an alternative perspective on the young people of Tbilisi and their quest for personal expression against a Brutalist background, caught between the thrill of speed and the pain of stagnation.