A woman searches for her missing relative in Director Levan Akin’s drama from Georgia, Crossing.
Akin’s film tells the story of Lia, a retired teacher living in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, who made a promise to her now-dead sister to find out what happened to her transgender niece Tekla, who she hasn’t seen since the girl’s transphobic parents disowned her. When Lia learns from her neighbor Achi that Tekla might be living in Turkey, they set off to find her in Istanbul where they are aided by Evrim, a lawyer fighting for trans rights. As Lia and Achi weave their way through the backstreets, they discover a beautiful city full of connections and possibilities and Tekla starts to feel closer than ever. But the mission is harder than they thought as Lia realizes “Istanbul is a place where people come to disappear.”
A powerfully empathetic, acutely composed follow-up to his film And Then We Danced, Crossing earned Levan Akin nominations for the Panorama Audience Award and Best Feature Film at the 2024 Berlin International Film Festival, where he received the Jury Award.
On November 7, after the Special Projects Committee Global Cinema Series screening in Los Angeles, via video from New York, Akin discussed the making of the film during a Q&A moderated by Global Cinema Series Subcommittee Chair Victoria Hochberg, where he spoke about some of the challenges he faced during the production.
“One of the most difficult things is working across borders like we did. We filmed part of it in Georgia with a partly Georgian team. And then Georgia and Turkey are so close, it's literally that border, but it's so different and they can't communicate language-wise. So, then we had a Turkish team, and filming in Istanbul logistically was incredibly, incredibly difficult. And even though the Turkish team was fantastic, and there was a great camaraderie, they work differently than I'm used to. I don't think there's a right or a wrong way — everybody manages to do things in their own way."
He also shared his hopes for how his concept of the film works on the audience. “I wanted this film to have more of a kind of novelistic feel to it where I wanted the viewer to feel that they're exploring a place and a city on their own terms. We, as Directors, control what the audience sees. I wanted to give that feeling of the camera being like a third eye or a new perspective in the film. I like that idea and I want to explore it more.
Akin’s other directorial works include the features Certain People, The Circle and the Cannes Film Festival 2019 Queer Palm-nominated And Then We Danced; and episodes of Livet i Fagervik, Second Avenue, Anno 1790, Äkta människor, Deg and Interview with the Vampire.