Hotel Metalurg

Tens of thousands of people fled the war in Abkhazia in the 1990s. Some of them found lodging in then-luxurious spa hotels in a popular Soviet recreation resort. Since then, the Hotel Metalurg and other neoclassical buildings have sunk into decay. Now it is mostly single mothers and elderly people who are still living in the once splendid surroundings left in the ruins of the Soviet Union. The Georgian government offers them alternative accommodation, but many are unwilling to move. The Georgian-French directorial duo have produced a surreal film about the uprooting and identity of the displaced, who observe happy couples taking wedding photos under the crystal chandelier in the Metalurg, while they themselves reminisce about better times in Abkhazia. (One World)