"Crossing" (Akin, 2024) - A Movie That Stays With Us

Crossing is beautifully realised, and the cinematography is resplendent as we move through bustling streets to lone street corners. 

Written by Autumn Scott

Two years ago, I had the privilege of being on the Europa Cinemas Jury at the 74th Berlinale. A story for another time and one I promise to tell. The section my jury was tasked with awarding was the Panorama section, an explicitly queer, political and progressive group of fiction features, documentaries, animation or experimental films. 

There was one film in particular that has stayed with me for years. Crossing, directed by Georgian-Swedish Levan Akin, follows Lia, an unmarried and retired teacher from Georgia. 

Lia, played by Mzia Arabulli, is a woman of few words, but Arabulli’s exquisite micro-expressions tell us everything that remains left unsaid. The audience quickly catches on that Lia has stern opinions and a harsh way to voice them when she chooses to. We embark on a journey with our protagonist to find her missing niece, a trans woman named Tekla (Tako Kurdovanidze), who has left Georgia and was last seen in Istanbul. 

In a promise to her dying sister, Lia has pledged to bring Tekla back to their small village. Enter Achi (Lucas Kankava), the younger brother of a former pupil of Lia’s, whose easy grin is both charming and unnerving. Somehow, young Achi convinces our grizzled lead to let him guide him to Istanbul, his first foray into a large city. Here, we shift to our other main character, Evim (Deniz Dumanli), a trans woman involved in sex work and volunteers at an LGBTQIA+ community centre. 

Tradition and transformation collide as Lia and Evim meet, and the search to find Tekla continues. As an audience, we are left to ask our own questions. Is there a possibility that Evim is actually Tekla? How could Lia possibly convince Tekla to come back to a life that she has left behind? And how much do the promises we make to other people bleed into us? 

Crossing is beautifully realised, and the cinematography is resplendent as we move through bustling streets to lone street corners. The chemistry between the three leads is steady, with sharp bursts of sentimentality, humour and at times, awkwardness. 

No matter the direction, I’m excited to see where Akin lands next. You can now stream Crossing on Mubi.