In 2022, during the war with Ukraine and the general trend of rejecting "the pernicious influence of the West culture" promoted by the pro-Putin media, Russian government introduced new terrible laws banning any propaganda of LGBTQIA+ relations. After that a lot of representatives of the LGBTQIA+ community decided to leave the country. This place was not safe for them anymore.
Within the framework of this long-term portrait project, I have found LGBTQIA+ couples who left to Georgia, the most popular destinations for Russian migrants during wartime because of the visa free regime. I have made intimate portraits of the couples exploring their vulnerable mental state during the current darkest times and capturing their emotions somewhere in between the old life that has not finished yet and the new chapter that is about to begin. All the characters hope to find the right path in the context of the ongoing events and inner peace by the means of love. Is it possible with all these scars that the past leaves behind?
The title of the project refers to Bernardo Bertolucci's movie "The Dreamers" in which the director is exploring protest in the form of the escapism into physical and mental closeness.
