Sightlines · reception

How And Then We Danced was received

2019 · Levan Akin · And Then We Danced on Sightlines

The arc

A Cannes Directors' Fortnight favorite in 2019, it became something much bigger when far-right mobs tried to shut down its Georgian premiere — the Tbilisi screenings, held under police guard, turned the film into a landmark event for LGBTQ visibility in the Caucasus.

What’s debated

Fans still debate whether it transcends the queer coming-of-age template (the Call Me By Your Name comparisons follow it everywhere) or whether its Georgian dance-world setting makes it something genuinely new.

Its footprint

The bedroom dance to ABBA's 'Take a Chance on Me' is its most shared, most rewatched moment — and the film itself became a real-world protest symbol, with its besieged Tbilisi screenings making international news.

Where it stands

A fixture of Letterboxd's queer-cinema canon — one of those late-2010s films that gets handed to people as an entry point into contemporary LGBTQ world cinema.

Did you know? The film's Georgian dance choreographer is credited anonymously — they feared professional and personal reprisals for working on a queer film set in the traditional Georgian dance world. Akin also found his lead, Levan Gelbakhiani, through Instagram.