CROSSING

goEast opens in 2024 with a Georgian-Turkish road movie from Levan Akin, whose AND THEN WE DANCED previously delighted international audiences, including German cinemagoers. With his newest outing, CROSSING, the Swedish-Georgian director transcends borders and brings human beings together in spite of all their differences. Retired Lia, from the Georgian port city of Batumi, sets off with Achi, an adolescent with no clear perspective for the future, to find Lia's missing niece Tekla, in the hopes of bringing her back home. The search takes them to Istanbul, where their paths cross with Evrim, a young female lawyer who advocates for the rights of trans individuals and other marginalised groups. As the trio hunts high and low for Tekla, a hidden web of solidarity and humanity reveals itself in the houses, back courtyards and streets of the glistening Turkish city – one in which people refrain from asking too many questions, in favour of acknowledging and respecting the vulnerability of others. With great warmth, Akin allows his characters to blossom, envisioning a society where taking care of one another and overcoming differences through love are an organic part of reality.