IMAGO Documentary Screening - Tbilisi Premiere

Déni Oumar Pitsaev | 2025 | Georgia/France | 1h49m | Presented in the original Chechen, Russian and Georgian audio with English subtitles

SPECIAL EVENT: All tickets include access to the Q&A discussion with the director at the conclusion of the documentary

I’m very happy to be screening IMAGO at FOMO because it’s a film of real tenderness. Déni Oumar Pitsaev returns to the Pankisi Valley, home to a Chechen community in northern Georgia, after inheriting a small plot of land there and dreaming of building the tree house he imagined as a child. Out of that simple idea, the film opens into something much deeper, a story about memory, exile, family expectation and the question of what home can mean when war and displacement have shaped your life from the beginning. It had its world premiere in competition at Cannes Critics’ Week, where it was presented as Pitsaev’s debut feature documentary.

Without giving too much away, Déni was born in Grozny, and the film is rooted in exile, war trauma and return, so what unfolds isn’t just a homecoming story. It’s a very personal search for how to live honestly inside a place that is yours, but doesn’t fit you cleanly anymore.

What I find so moving about IMAGO is that it doesn’t approach these themes in a heavy or distant way. It’s personal, warm and quietly funny. The film stays close to people, to conversations, to small frictions inside family life, and to the push and pull between tradition and self-invention. That’s part of why it’s connected so strongly with audiences already. After Cannes, it went on to win the Golden Eye for Best Documentary. One critic called it "a lyrical meditation on the dreams of the displaced and on the search for a sense of home."

This screening is especially worth coming to because Déni Oumar Pitsaev will be joining us live after the film for a Q&A discussion. That gives you the chance to experience the film, then hear directly from the filmmaker about Pankisi, Chechen identity, family memory and how this deeply personal work came together. I expect strong interest for this one, and it’s very likely to sell out so get your tickets early.

19:30 Doors Open

20:00 Documentary Screening

21:50 shirt break for refreshments

22:10 Live Q&A discussion with the director

23:10 Networking drinks in FOMO Lounge Bar