HOSTAGES (aka MDZEVLEBI): Georgian Independence Day Special Screening

Rezo Gigineishvili | 2017 | Georgia | 1h45m | Presented in the original Georgian audio with English subtitles

HOSTAGES turns one of the most infamous episodes in late Soviet Georgian history into a tense, restrained drama about youth, privilege, desperation, and the fantasy of escape.

Set in 1983, the film follows a group of young Georgians from respected families who attempt to hijack a domestic flight in order to flee the Soviet Union. They are educated, stylish, restless, and convinced that the West represents freedom in its purest form. Their plan is reckless from the beginning, but Gigineishvili avoids turning the story into simple moral theatre. He is interested in the atmosphere that made such an act imaginable: the pressure of a closed society, the hunger for elsewhere, and the dangerous romance of believing that freedom can be seized in a single dramatic gesture.

The film is based on real events, but its force comes from the way it studies contradiction. These are not straightforward heroes or villains. They are young people shaped by a system they want to escape, yet also protected by the class position that gives them the confidence to try. The result is a film about political suffocation, but also about immaturity, status, and the terrible distance between intention and consequence.

Presented as part of FOMO’s Georgian Independence Day program, HOSTAGES is included because it looks at independence from inside the Soviet period, when the idea of freedom could feel both urgent and unreachable. It’s a film about the cost of living without an exit, and the danger of confusing escape with liberation.

FOOD AND DRINK POLICY: FOMO Cinema Lounge Bar opens 1 hour before the first screening of the day and closes at 02:00, serving a wide selection of beer, wine, cocktails, and non-alcoholic refreshments including coffee and tea, as well as fresh hot popcorn! Outside food is allowed in the bar but not in the cinema. No alcohol from outside allowed. All guests are invited to arrive early and stay late!

LOCATION: FOMO Secret Cinema, Bazari Orbeliani, Tbilisi. A five minute walk from Liberty Square metro.

HOW TO FIND FOMO: Enter Bazari Orbeliani via Atoneli St above Carrefour and take the stairs on your left to Level 1. Signage on the door. You can also check our Instagram story highlights for a video showing exactly how to find us:
https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17933106294029235/