Passage
Crossing
Retired Georgian teacher Lia promised to find her late sister’s daughter, Tekla, and bring her home.
Takla left home years ago and no one has heard from her. In the village, Lia meets the young neighbor boy Achi, who tells her that Tekla has left Georgia and traveled to Istanbul. Reluctantly, Lia realizes that she needs Achi’s help, who is desperate to get away himself, and together they embark on a journey to find Lia’s niece.
In Istanbul, they discover a beautiful, vibrant and colorful city, full of life and dreams, but finding someone who doesn’t want to be found proves difficult. Lia, on the other hand, is not one to give up, and one day she meets Evrim, a lawyer fighting for the rights of the transgender community. With Evrin’s help, Lia and Achi start to feel that their search through the back streets of Istanbul is taking them closer and closer to Tekla.
Levan Akin’s previous film, And Then We Danced (2019), was a huge success, and in this film he returns to his Georgian roots and brings us a beautiful and brave story with warmth, strong performances, and an authenticity that is anything but random, and helps make this film an experience that will linger in your soul.
- Original title: Crossing
- Country: Sverige, Danmark, Frankrike, Tyrkia, Georgia / Sweden, Denmark, France, Turkey, Georgia
- Year: 2024
- Length: 105
- Director: Levan Akin
- Script: Levan Akin
- Photography: Lisabi Fridell
- Editing: Emma Lagrelius, Levan Akin
- Sound: Anne Gry Friis Kristensen, Sigrid DPA Jensen
- Production design: Roger Rosenberg
- Costume: Linn Eklund
- Cast: Mzia Arabuli, Lucas Kankava, Daniz Dumanli
- Producer: Mathilde Dedye
Levan Akin
Levan Akin is a Swedish-Georgian filmmaker, whose work explores class, gender and sexuality. His film And Then We Danced premiered in the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, was released in cinemas and played festivals worldwide, winning multiple awards. It was also Sweden’s official entry for the Oscars.
Akin directed on the TV series Real Humans and is co-executive producer and director on the series adaptation of Anne Rice’s classic book, Interview with the Vampire, currently streaming and in production for its second season.