Rob and Arnold took up The Sochi Project in 2009. Over the course of five years their aim is to map out the extensive region around the Russian resort of Sochi. This is where the Olympic Winter Games will be held in 2014. The Games are being organized in Russia's most unstable region, the Caucasus. On the other side of the mountains is a story about Krasny Vostok, a village with one foot in the 19th century, still partially without gas and electricity. Barely 200 kilometers from Sochi, but a world away. There is no reason to portray this particular village; and that's why they did. The Caucasus is more than just conflict and refugees, fundamentalist Islam or billion dollar Games.
In Empty land, Promised land, Forbidden land, they explored the unknown country of Abkhazia on the Black Sea. Abkhazia broke away from Georgia after a short, violent civil war in 1992-’93 and was recognized as independent in 2008 by Russia, Venezuela, Nicaragua and the atoll of Nauru. They visited the refugees in Georgia and described the attempts made by the Abkhazian government to repopulate the empty, war-ravaged country with new immigrants.
The Sochi Project is not a documentary. It is a platform that aims to let Hornstra and Van Bruggen to produce independent documentary work, in which crowd funding and community building play an important role. The Sochi Project is more than just a website and annual publications. For this reason the Sochi project has been nominated for the second year in a row.