When the smoke clears

documentary film by Clement Carat

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In post-Soviet Georgia, a country still scarred by collapse and silence, illegal street drifting became a refuge for a generation of men chasing speed to escape grief, stagnation, and forgotten futures.

Behind the roar of engines and clouds of tire smoke lie stories shaped by loss and obsession. When The Smoke Clears follows three figures from this underground world: Mevlud, a celebrated Georgian drifter and survivor of countless near-death experiences, prepares for an international competition
while haunted by the loss of his son in a fatal car accident.

Gisho, the adopted son and brother of Giorgi “Tevzi” Tevzadze, must grow up under the weight of a legend; Tevzi’s viral rise in the 2010s and his tragic end; without a father or a model to guide him. Tevzi, though absent, is the film’s third presence: a fallen icon whose memory continues to shape the lives of those left behind to figure whose legacy binds the film’s characters together.

As the engines fall silent, the film reveals an intimate portrait of masculinity, inheritance, and mourning; of a father who lost a son, and a son who lost a father; asking what remains when the smoke of tires finally clears.

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Supported by The Netherlands Film Fund, AFK, Amarte