Bitter Sugar

Logline

Nika, Gika, and Levan - three brothers from a small, dying Georgian town - navigate life, only relying on each other, while their absent mother provides for the family from abroad.

Synopsis

The small town in Georgia. Three brothers are huddled together over a video call from their mother, who lives abroad. At times her voice drops out as she tries to keep a sense of normalcy. It is the daily reality of Nika, Gika, and Levan, who have been left to care for themselves, the only connection to their mother is through this distant phone voice. Their father is there, barely visible, appearing after dark and only in fly-by visits. Ultimately, both parents are absent, trying to provide for the family from elsewhere. The town where the brothers live is a quiet place that has been left almost empty after its main factory closed its doors. This factory is where most inhabitants of the town worked. Filling this absence from both parents and the empty town, the brothers find their ways of re-inventing family dynamics and relations. The longer their mother is absent, the more the boys become accustomed to fending for themselves, despite the multitude of challenges in front of them, although they wish desperately for her to return. Levan (12) is the youngest brother and misses his mother a lot. He tries to do the things that she would be proud of, plays piano intensively, while his middle brother - introverted teen Gika (16)- is trying to be the grown-up of the family but still holds onto his childish dreams. While the eldest brother, Nika, is taking on the role of mother, he will have to leave the house to study at university in Tbilisi. His dream is to become an architect. The vision of building his dream home often spills out into drawings or the little model houses he builds. However Nika’s (19) dream will cost a lot: he currently faces the question of he also must go abroad to earn the money for his studies, which would change the family dynamic once again, especially as it is unlikely their mother will return. It is a universal and intimate story. The children are abandoned by parents who are forced to work abroad.