The documentary ’’Together and Apart’’ addresses the conflict between the central Georgian government and its breakaway region of Abkhazia.

In the late 1980s, several armed conflicts erupted in the former Soviet republics, including the 1992-1993 war between Georgia and Abkhazia. More than 20,000 people died when the Abkhazians demanded independence, but the war ended in a stalemate. Russian troops assumed control of Abkhazia and continue to occupy the region.

In 2005, with the help of videoconference technology, Internews Europe facilitated communication between ordinary people who would generally be unable to meet. Before the start of the conflict, the two protagonists in the film, Kote Sichinava and Anatoly Pachilia, had been coworkers in an institute in Sukhumi. During the war, they took up arms on opposite sides.

Today, while Anatoly still lives in Sukhumi, Kote has been displaced to Tbilisi; he is an ethnic Georgian refugee from Abkhazia. Via satellite, the two exchanged their individual views on the conflict. They shared short background films about their current lives shot by crews under their direction. In between dialog, characters from the films expressed their reactions to the conversations. The film thus promotes responsible citizenship through the exchange of ideas and opinions between Georgians and Abkhazians.

The film was presented in Tbilisi in 2005 to the Georgian public. It was distributed and widely viewed within the rest of Georgia and journalists from Abkhazia, while the authorities of the Abkhaz region refused to allow it to be broadcast, or even shown in public halls. In May 2006 some 100 Caucasus specialists and analysts gathered at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Science Sociale (EHESS) in Paris to watch and critique ’Together Apart’, to discuss the conflict and possible solutions to resolve the conflict.

The film was shown in Tbilisi in 2005 to the Georgian public. It was distributed and widely viewed throughout Georgia, but Abkhaz authorities refused to allow it to be broadcast or played in public halls. In May 2006, nearly one hundred specialists on the Caucasus gathered at the École des Hautes Etudes en Science Sociale (EHESS) in Paris to watch and critique “Together Apart” and to discuss possible solutions to the conflict.