"Shindisi" to be Screened at Santa Barbara Film Festival

Shindisi is a 2019 Georgian drama film directed by Dito Tsintsadze. The Oscar-nominated Shindisi will be screened at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) on January 21, 22 and 24. 

On Monday, the SBIFF announced its lineup for the 35th edition, which will run from January 15 to 25, 2020. The festival will feature 47 world premieres and 71 US premieres from 50 countries, along with the tributes to the year’s top talent, panel discussions and free community education and outreach programs.  

The film is based on the real story of the Shindisi (Georgian village) battle that occurred between the Russian and Georgian troops on August 11, 2008, and claimed the lives of 17 Georgian soldiers. Shindisi tells the story of a handful of Georgian soldiers and civilians who refuse to evacuate the village in the face of the upcoming Russian invasion. 

Shindisi premiered at the 35th Warsaw Film Festival last year and won the Grand Prix, while Tsintsadze was named best director.  

Everyone involved in the making of Shindisi was overwhelmed by the usettling circumstances of the 2008-year war, and thus invested in director Dito Tsintsadze’s mission: to remind the world of what happened - and is still happening - to Georgia. 

By Elene Dzebisashvili