Crossing

Synopsis
Lia, a retired teacher, made a promise to find out what happened to her long-lost niece, Tekla. When she learns from Achi, a neighbour, that the niece might be living in Turkey, the pair set off to find her. In Istanbul, they discover a beautiful city full of connections and possibilities, but tracing someone who has no intention of being found proves harder than they thought – until they meet Evrim, a trans-rights lawyer. As Lia and Achi weave their way through the city’s backstreets, they feel closer than ever to Tekla.

Jury moivation
Crossing is an emotional journey that takes us from the poorer areas of the Georgian town of Batumi on the Black Sea coast to the trans community in pulsating Istanbul. Retired teacher Lia embarks on a quest for Tekla, the long-lost niece she promised her late sister she would find. Along comes teenager Achi, who sees an opportunity to escape a life without hope and lies to Lia about speaking Turkish and knowing Tekla’s whereabouts in the melting pot of Istanbul. When they finally arrive in the Turkish metropolis, they find themselves far from the tourist hotspots and blue mosques, in a seldom depicted and often excluded community in which the struggle to be who you are never ends. Exposed to new people and experiences, the journey also becomes an inward one for them.

Lisabi Fridell’s rich and intimate camera work accompanies the characters with complete and tender solidarity as they evolve while navigating a world where dreams and crass reality collide.

Crossing is a complex and humanising exploration of all its characters, and the close bond between the director and his actors creates a sense of presence that reverberates through the audience. Despite the rancorous debate around trans issues, Akin manages to tell a story about the need in all of us to dream and belong, and he does so with humour, empathy and great warmth. To top it all, the devastating closing scene is as cinematically challenging as it is demanding.