Xitana ხითანა

First film in Medoidze’s Tusheti Trilogy, Xitana is centred around a bareback horse race tradition in Tusheti mountains – a display of masculinity as much as fragility of the community trying to maintain its cultural integrity.

In the isolated mountainous region of Tusheti in North East Georgia, life has remained largely unchanged since medieval times until few years ago, when the Georgian government introduced free wifi access in the villages, where previously one had to walk for 10 km to make a phone call. The desires of the young Tushetians are shifting rapidly, as they are more likely to stay in the village with an internet access but are still dreaming about a better life beyond the mountains, which feels more accessible due to social media yet remains largely out of reach due to visa and economic restrictions; with tourist numbers on the rise Tush people are facing a dilemma whether to modernise or remain faithful to their traditional way of life.

Nowhere else is this conflict of desires more pronounced than during Atengenoba, the region’s traditional summer festivities, with young Tushetians looking increasingly more like the teenagers anywhere else, ditching their traditional dress for Norm-core.