BANDITS

This documentary by Zaza Rusadze shares a light on the 1983 hijacking of a commercial flight from the Georgian capital Tbilisi by a group of amateurs with good intentions. Screenings are followed by Q&A with Tamara Tatishvili, Georgian producer and representative at Eurimages.

Synopsis

Participants, victims and their families share memories on the event that led to a loss of several lives. Although a group of young people who grew up under socialist regime envisioned hijacking as a simple way out of this Soviet satellite country, the journey turned tragically wrong. What might have seemed as an easy escape for a small group, turned into a nationwide catastrophe, following the Army’s overreaction. It is still a topic of fierce debate and a bitter pill to swallow for Georgian society even 30 years later. This same event is also covered in the fiction film “Hostages”, also screened at this year’s edition of the Eastern Neighbours Film Festival.