The lives, dreams, and destinies of extraordinary characters unfold in this impressionist dreamscape amid the ruins of a semi-abandoned mining town.

The Georgian city of Chiatura was once a thriving manganese mining town. Now it’s a dismal place, the bleakness of its empty streets and crumbling factory buildings only deepened by a dense layer of gray clouds. Rati Oneli surely intended the title of his film City of the Sun to be ironic. His camera roams this post-apocalyptic ghost town, capturing arresting shots of the mountainous landscape and industrial wasteland, and stopping off with the handful of people who, despite everything, live a life like any other in this cheerless place. They have jobs to go to, they have hobbies and they have ambitions. We meet a miner who spends his evenings on the theater stage, two skinny girls training for the Olympics, and a music teacher earning extra cash selling metal he hacks from half-demolished buildings. With calmness and integrity, Oneli shares his observations of a depleted society forgotten by the outside world.

World premiere: Berlin International Film Festival 2017

Sarajevo Film Festival 2017 | Heart of Sarajevo for Best Documentary
DocumentaMadrid 2017 | Best International Feature Film
Sheffield Doc/Fest 2017 | Art Doc Award
goEast Film Festival 2017 | Award of the Federal Foreign Office for Cultural Diversity
Minsk International Film Festival “Listapad” 2017 | Special Jury Award, FIPRESCI Award
MiradasDoc International Documentary Film Festival 2018 | Best Documentary
Bergamo Film Meeting 2018 | The CGIL Commission Prize
ZagrebDox 2018 | Special Mention
San Francisco International Film Festival 2018 | Golden Gate Award – Documentary Feature
Tbilisi International Film Festival 2017 | Best Film
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2017 | Official Selection
IndieLisboa 2017 | Official Selection
IDFA 2017 | Official Selection
DOK.fest Munich 2017 | Official Selection
Freiburger Film Forum 2017 | Official Selection
Vilnius Documentary Film Festival 2017 | Official Selection
Reykjavik International Film Festival 2017 | Official Selection
One World International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival 2017 | Official Selection
Otok Isola Cinema 2017 | Official Selection
Festival Resistances 2017 | Official Selection