On a weekday, in the iconic Brooklyn club: House Of Yes. A towering drag queen host gets on stage:

“Ladies, and gentlemen! I hope y’all are ready for the next show! Let me introduce you the magnificent, the gorgeous, the queerest, NYC based, gogo dancer, native american, dragqueen, stripper, sex worker, and 2017 american pole dance champion, the only, the unique, the extraordinary Blaine f*cking Petroviaaaa!”

But amidst the applause lies a question: who is the person behind the dazzling facade, the one who defies gravity on that pole? Beyond the glitter and allure, we delve into the journey of Blaine, discovering how pole dancing became a source of solace following a profound and dramatic event in their life.

Against the backdrop of the Caucasus mountains, two vintage BMWs slide around each other as an intertwined dance amidst a swirling haze of smoke.

Behind the steering wheel of one, Mevlud Meladze, aged 55, a veteran race car driver with a career spanning three decades from the chaotic streets of 90’ Tbilisi, now seeks solace from his son’s tragic death in a car accident through the promise of victory in an international drifting competition.

Behind the other wheel, Giorgi Tevzadze, a tall babyfaced man, once a disciple of Mevlud, hailed as the world’s most infamous street drifter, met his end just as the glow of celebrity began to illuminate his path. His untimely demise left behind not only unfulfilled dreams tinged with bitterness for his friends; but also a daughter, Anastasia Tevzadze, who never had the chance to experience his presence, now embarking on a quest to discover who her father truly was.

When The Smoke Clears is about two and half destinies. A father mourning his lost son, and another one who left behind a daughter looking for him. Their stories show us how wounded masculinities find, by flirting with death, a path to give meaning to life.