Little Man, Time and the Troubadour / De Kleine Man, Tijd en de Troubadour

Every country has a national myth, often featuring a legendary king, warrior or martyr who battles for his homeland. These myths play an essential role in the creation of national identity. Featuring various heroes of flesh and blood, Little Man, Time and the Troubadour forms an alternative national myth for small and unrecognized Abkhazia.

Born in Abkhazia and raised in Soviet Georgia, Sipa Labakhua had to flee with his family to Moscow when the USSR collapsed and war broke out early 90’s. Years after his untimely return to his warridden birthplace, Sipa takes to the road with his autobiographical one-man marionette show. While provoking audiences with his own history of displacement and war, he collects the personal memories and dreams of people from different backgrounds: Abkhazian nationalists, Orthodox priests, Syrian refugees, Georgian farmers and Russian hippies.

Bypassing political propaganda and combining elements from documentary, fiction and animation, this road movie sheds a poetic light on a highly topical question in a world that is on fire: what is home, what makes a country?