From acclaimed director Levan Akin (And Then We Danced), CROSSING is a moving and tender tale of identity, acceptance and unlikely connection that transcends borders and generations. Lia, a retired school teacher living in Georgia, hears from a young neighbor Achi that her long lost niece Tekla, a transgender woman, has crossed the border into Turkey. Hoping to bring Tekla home after a period of estrangement, Lia travels to Istanbul with the unpredictable Achi to find her. Akin's third feature is a heartfelt portrayal of overcoming the degrees of separation that divide us.
Turkish and English subtitles
105 min
Season Sponsor: Rastin's Pharmacy
Film Date Sponsor: MacKay, Brehm and Smith, Professional Organization
Proceeds to Hamilton Out of the Cold
BUY TICKETS HERE: https://www.memorialarts.ca/films/crossing
Awards
Winner Jury Award and 2nd place Audience Award: Berlin International Film Festival
Winner Jury Award: Guadalajara International Film Festival
Winner Feature Film: Sofia Pride Film Festival
Reviews
Crossing is terrific: a rich and rewarding tapestry of characters and cultures flung together and flourishing. Wendy Ide/The Observer (UK)
Akin’s approach feels so tied to novel-writing — with shifts in perspectives and at least one plot-twisting formal deceit that whiplashes you only to leave you breathless and a bit swoony — and yet the axis around which his universe orbits is entirely cinematic, and universal. Ryan Lattanzio/Indiewire
Akin doesn’t untangle his main character’s inner life; rather, he simply recognizes that healing is a process that both begins with oneself and is aided by those we allow into our lives and hearts. Nick Schafer/The Daily Beast
Another film would make this Istanbul of sex workers and street kids the stage for something brutal and didactic. Akin gives even the shabbiest address the hint of a picture book, and matches every sadness with optimism. Danny Leigh/Financial Times
A thoroughly intelligent, emotionally engaging and robustly performed movie from Levan Akin, the Georgian-Swedish director who had an international breakthrough four years ago with the love story And Then We Danced. Peter Bradshaw/The Guardian
Akin makes a calculated choice to raise awareness of the trans community in Istanbul, but he does so through representation rather than manipulation. Peter DeBruge/Variety
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27417166/
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/crossing_2024
Since her sister’s disappearance, Jax (Lily Gladstone) has cared for her niece Roki (Isabel Deroy-Olson) by scraping by on the Seneca-Cayuga reservation in Oklahoma. Every spare minute goes into finding her missing sister while also helping Roki prepare for an upcoming powwow. At the risk of Jax losing custody to Roki’s grandfather, Frank (Shea Whigham), the pair hit the road to track down Roki’s mother. What begins as a search gradually turns into a far deeper investigation into the complexities and contradictions of Indigenous women moving through a colonized world while at the mercy of a failed justice system.
92 min
Season Sponsor: Rastin's Pharmacy
Film Date Sponsor: MacKay, Brehm and Smith, Professional Organization
Proceeds to Hamilton Out of the Cold
BUY TICKETS HERE: https://www.memorialarts.ca/films/fancy-dance
Awards
Winner: Excellence in Narrative Filmmaking, Hampton's Film Festival
Winner: Cinematography, SXSW Film Festival
Winner: Breakthrough Actress (Gladstone), Austin Film Critics Award
Winner: Audience Award, Mill Valley Film Festival
Winner: Best Narrative, Tacoma Film Festival
Winner: Best Narrative, Sun Valley Film Festival
Winner: Oklahoma Independent Filmmaking Award, Oklahoma Film Critics
Winner: Best Supporting Actress (Isabel Deroy-Olson), Film Club's Lost Weekend
Reviews
Lily Gladstone appeared in two films in 2023. Martin Scorsese’s white-centered Killers of the Flower Moon received all the attention, but Erica Tremblay’s Fancy Dance is so far superior that it feels like an insult to even compare them. Noah Berlatsky/Chicago Reader
Erica Tremblay has a background in documentary-making and brings an unflinching eye to her depiction of life on the Seneca-Cayuga reservation in Oklahoma. Ed Power/Daily Telegraph (UK)
One of those small-scale indie films that examine social issues through the micro-lens of individual lives, so that the audience gets a sense of the systemic problems that impact the characters’ choices without the director ever having to mount a soapbox. Dana Stevens/Slate
As usual, Gladstone is excellent, and she doesn’t mind ceding the spotlight to Deroy-Olson. The two craft a convincing family unit, one we don’t want to see broken. And though the film hits familiar plot beats, it loses none of its redemptive power. Odie Henderson/Boston Globe
A potent, layered and beautiful heartache of a movie grappling with traumas but finding hope and even joy in the bond between these women, and the way they hold onto their culture and these ceremonies that have resisted and survived colonization. Radheyan Simonpillai/CTV's This Morning
In a movie that reminds us that parenting comes in many forms, it’s touching to learn that the Cayuga word for “aunt” is “small mother.” Moira Macdonald/Seattle Times
About 170 titles of past Ancaster Film Fest selections are available for loan at Rastin's Pharmacy.
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