Film
And Then We Danced
A Georgian dancer's quest for the National Ensemble's spotlight fractures when a rival arrives—and attracts him in ways that threaten everything he's built. Visually dazzling, deeply felt, and brave about desire amid family and faith. For anyone who's felt caught between ambition and authenticity.
If you liked this
Moonlight2016
Three-act study of a Black man's identity across boyhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Like And Then We Danced, it trusts beauty and silence to say what words cannot, and finds tenderness in constraint.
But Deliberately paced and poetic rather than plot-driven. Some find the elliptical structure frustrating rather than meditative.

Call Me by Your Name2017
Summer infatuation between two men in 1980s Italy becomes a meditation on desire, class, and the ache of impossible love. Gorgeous cinematography and a protagonist wrestling with identity like Merab does.
But Long, sensual, and deliberately slow. The wealthy Italian setting is a world away from Merab's working-class Tbilisi.

God's Own Country2017
A young British farmhand falls for a migrant worker while his family crumbles around him. Raw emotional honesty and the same tension between duty and desire that drives And Then We Danced.
But Grittier and more abrasive in tone. Less visually polished; the beauty is austere rather than ornamental.

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The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
La Haine1995
Both are precise, visually rigorous portraits of young men whose ambitions collide with systems designed to contain them.
Three young men in a Paris housing project spend a day navigating poverty, police violence, and identity. Black-and-white cinematography and ensemble energy utterly unlike And Then We Danced, but shares its unflinching look at young men trapped by circumstance and expectation.
But French with subtitles. Shot in 1995 in a completely different cultural context. Much more political, less romantic.

More like this (6)
Portrait of a Lady on Fire2019
A painter and her subject fall in love across a canvas in 18th-century Brittany. Sensual, intimate, and quietly radical about female desire. Same year as And Then We Danced but utterly different in setting and gender.
But Deliberately paced, almost no dialogue in stretches. Some viewers find the deliberate rhythm precious or exclusionary.

I Wish2011
Two boys separated by their parents' divorce find solace in friendship and wish-making. Not about sexuality, but deeply about how young people navigate love and loss when the world feels constraining.
But A quieter, more diffuse narrative. Less dramatic than And Then We Danced and set in a mundane suburban landscape.

The Last Time I Saw Richard2013
A Georgian director's intimate portrait of a ballet dancer's final performance. Shares Merab's setting and its exploration of Georgian culture, dance, and the life choices artists make.
But Extremely obscure and harder to find. Documentary-like pacing may bore those seeking narrative momentum.

The Half of It2020
A closeted teen ghost-writes love letters for a jock while falling for him herself. Thoughtful, funny, and genuinely about identity rather than just romance. Different stakes, same emotional core.
But Lighter in tone overall. Plays more comedy than And Then We Danced, and the romance resolves differently.

Summer of 852020
Two teenage boys fall in love over a summer in 1980s Belgium before everything unravels. Captures the intoxication and danger of first queer love with real complexity.
But Darker turn in the third act. Some find the ending manipulative rather than earned.

A Fantastic Woman2017
Both are about queer characters asserting their right to exist and love in societies structured to deny them both.
A trans woman fights to claim her space in grief and society after her partner's death. Argentine magical realism meets social realism. Like And Then We Danced, it's about visibility and the cost of existing authentically in a world that resists you.
But The tone shifts between surrealism and kitchen-sink reality. Some find that jarring. It's also much angrier than And Then We Danced.

People
Cast
Levan GelbakhianiMerab
Bachi ValishviliIrakli
Ana JavakishviliMary
Giorgi TsereteliDavid
Tamar BukhnikashviliTeona
Kakha GogidzeAleko
Nino GabisoniaNinutsa
Aleko BegalishviliIoseb
Mate KhidasheliMate- Ana MakharadzeSopo
- Marika GogichaishviliGrandma Nona
- Levan GabravaLuka
Directing
- Levan AkinDirector
- Giorgi SamsianiFirst Assistant Director
- Marie JachvadzeScript Supervisor
- Nutsa ZangurashviliSecond Assistant Director
Writing
- Levan AkinScreenplay
Production
- Isabella RodriguezAssociate Producer
- Julien FéretCo-Producer
- Mattias J. SkoglundCo-Producer
- Ludvig AnderssonExecutive Producer
- Mattias SandströmExecutive Producer
- Giorgi KobaliaLine Producer
- Ketie DaneliaProducer
- Mathilde DedyeProducer
- Nato SikharulidzeProduction Manager