A film that invokes its title in myriad ways, Levan Akin’s newest film, “Crossing,” is predominantly concerned with the differences that emerge across national and gendered identities. A plea for trans acceptance that never preaches to its audience, Akin’s film grounds the story of trans identity in Georgia and Turkey through the narrative of two disparate characters searching for someone in a city they don’t know.
Opening in Batumi, on the coast of Georgia, the film begins as Lia (Mzia Arabuli) searches for her niece, Tekla.
Continue reading ‘Crossing’ Review: Levan Akin’s Boundary Crossing Film is An Emotional Plea For Trans Acceptance [Berlinale] at The Playlist.
Opening in Batumi, on the coast of Georgia, the film begins as Lia (Mzia Arabuli) searches for her niece, Tekla.
Continue reading ‘Crossing’ Review: Levan Akin’s Boundary Crossing Film is An Emotional Plea For Trans Acceptance [Berlinale] at The Playlist.
- 2/24/2024
- by Christian Gallichio
- The Playlist
In his 2019 breakout feature, And Then We Danced, Swedish writer-director Levan Akin examined gay self-discovery and defiant sexuality against the rigid gender codes of a traditional Georgian dance company. His warmly humanistic new film, Crossing, explores another story of queer identity in an unaccommodating environment, this time using an odd-couple journey to advocate for trans acceptance. Observed with granular detail and imbued with a pulsing sense of place, this novelistic drama takes time to connect its central triangle but does so with a suppleness and restraint that amplify the emotional rewards of its lovely open-ended conclusion.
That sense of place applies to two principal settings as well as the sprawling space in between. It opens in Batumi, on the rocky Black Sea coast of southwest Georgia, and then shifts to the teeming streets and crumbling apartment blocks of Istanbul’s high-density, low-income quarters, where the title expands beyond geographical borders...
That sense of place applies to two principal settings as well as the sprawling space in between. It opens in Batumi, on the rocky Black Sea coast of southwest Georgia, and then shifts to the teeming streets and crumbling apartment blocks of Istanbul’s high-density, low-income quarters, where the title expands beyond geographical borders...
- 2/15/2024
- by David Rooney
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Visiting Istanbul, you can’t help but notice all of the cats: The Turkish metropolis is swarming with strays, some gorgeous and friendly, others haggard and more stand-offish. Entire films have been made about the phenomenon (of which “Kedi” was an especially popular example). But what of the countless other souls — the human ones — who also live on the margins of this modern city? They too are invisible until noticed. But if you look closely, it becomes impossible to unsee the homeless children and street sellers, sex workers and immigrants, many of them struggling to survive.
With “Crossing,” writer-director Levan Akin wants to open our eyes to the easily overlooked. After earning international acclaim with Cannes-selected queer drama “And Then We Danced,” Akin makes a calculated choice to raise awareness of the trans community in Istanbul, but he does so through representation rather than manipulation. “Crossing” tells the engaging if...
With “Crossing,” writer-director Levan Akin wants to open our eyes to the easily overlooked. After earning international acclaim with Cannes-selected queer drama “And Then We Danced,” Akin makes a calculated choice to raise awareness of the trans community in Istanbul, but he does so through representation rather than manipulation. “Crossing” tells the engaging if...
- 2/15/2024
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
In “Crossing,” the new film from “And Then We Danced” director Levan Akin, the earthy spirit of Italian icon Anna Magnani is channeled by not one but two actresses who resemble her. There’s Mzia Arabuli as Lia, a retired schoolteacher on a journey from Batumi in Georgia to Istanbul in Turkey to find her missing trans niece, and Deniz Dumanli as Evrim, the trans Ngo lawyer the movie dupes us into thinking is Lia’s niece. The two women are as far apart on the joie de vivre spectrum as any pair could be — Lia has calcified into an emotionless stone who gives away nothing, while Evrim lives freely and sexually liberated in an otherwise LGBTQ-challenged country — yet “Crossing” movingly bridges the space between them as Lia gets closer to locating her niece with the help a Gen Z Georgian teenager named Achi (Lucas Kankava).
That these two women look so alike,...
That these two women look so alike,...
- 2/15/2024
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Borders, political, social and societal, are being transversed in Crossing, the new film from And Then We Danced director Levan Akin. The drama, which arthouse streamer Mubi has picked up for the U.S. and U.K., stars Mzia Arabuli as Lia, a retired teacher who sets off to find her long-lost niece Telka, a trans woman.
The search takes her, and her neighbor Achi, to Turkey where they meet Evrim, a lawyer fighting for trans rights.
In the first trailer for the film, Achi convinces Lia to let him join her on her search.
‘Crossing’
“The film is based on a true story I was told whilst researching And Then We Danced,” says Akin, “about a grandmother traveling from Georgia to Turkey in search of her trans granddaughter. Just like with my previous film, making Crossing was very challenging. The existence of LGBTQ+ people in Georgia and Turkey is...
The search takes her, and her neighbor Achi, to Turkey where they meet Evrim, a lawyer fighting for trans rights.
In the first trailer for the film, Achi convinces Lia to let him join her on her search.
‘Crossing’
“The film is based on a true story I was told whilst researching And Then We Danced,” says Akin, “about a grandmother traveling from Georgia to Turkey in search of her trans granddaughter. Just like with my previous film, making Crossing was very challenging. The existence of LGBTQ+ people in Georgia and Turkey is...
- 2/15/2024
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Art house streaming platform Mubi has picked up all rights in North America, the U.K., Germany and Latin America for Crossing, the new feature from Swedish director Levan Akin (And Then We Danced).
Mubi snatched up Crossing ahead of this year’s Berlin Film Festival, where it will have its world premiere, opening Berlin’s Panorama sidebar.
The film follows Lia, a retired teacher living in Batumi, Georgia, who sets out to fulfill her recently deceased sister’s last wish: to find Tekla, her long-lost daughter. The road trip takes her to Istanbul where she meets up with Evrim, a trans rights lawyer who might be the key to finding Lia’s niece. Mzia Arabuli, Lucas Kankava and Deniz Dumanli star. The film was produced by Sweden’s French Quarter Film in co-production with Rmv and Svt in Sweden, Adomeit Film of Denmark, France’s Easy Riders Films, Bir...
Mubi snatched up Crossing ahead of this year’s Berlin Film Festival, where it will have its world premiere, opening Berlin’s Panorama sidebar.
The film follows Lia, a retired teacher living in Batumi, Georgia, who sets out to fulfill her recently deceased sister’s last wish: to find Tekla, her long-lost daughter. The road trip takes her to Istanbul where she meets up with Evrim, a trans rights lawyer who might be the key to finding Lia’s niece. Mzia Arabuli, Lucas Kankava and Deniz Dumanli star. The film was produced by Sweden’s French Quarter Film in co-production with Rmv and Svt in Sweden, Adomeit Film of Denmark, France’s Easy Riders Films, Bir...
- 1/18/2024
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.