EUMM screens documentary on Georgian youth attitudes towards Abkhazia

The European Union Monitoring Mission in Georgia (EUMM) and the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) have hosted a public screening of the documentary film My Links to Abkhazia on 8 September. 

The film, directed by Zviad Mchedlishvili – a journalist of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) – tells the story of a post-conflict generation that inherited a fragile peace following the 1992-1993 war in Abkhazia.

“Focusing on the daily routine of young people, I tried to delve deeper into their thoughts and feelings. In their emotions, I sometimes heard an echo of the negative collective memory passed on them by older generations,” said the film director, Zviad Mchedlishvili. According to him, the young protagonists of the film have never visited Abkhazia and have not had family ties there but respect the Abkhaz culture, traditions and language. “The filming revealed to me that for the film protagonists, Abkhazia is not just a breakaway region, but a part of their own identity,” Zviad Mchedlishvili added.

The film was screened in the Knowledge Café in Tsnori as part of EUMM’s outreach efforts to encourage regional audiences to participate in the ongoing 2023 edition of the EUMM Special Prize for Peace Journalism.

My links to Abkhazia is also the product of a joint initiative of EUMM and Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR). For several years now, within the scope of the EUMM Special Prize for Peace Journalism project, a series of documentaries has been produced. The documentaries are dedicated to Georgia’s unresolved conflicts, aiming to understand the conflict roots and to help reconcile the communities.

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Press release