Crossing

“It seems Istanbul is a place where people come to disappear.”

Lia (Mzia Arabuli), a retired teacher in Georgia, crosses into Turkey after her young neighbor Achi (Luke Kankava) tells her that her niece Tekla, who is transgender, has gone to Istanbul. Levan Akin sends the restless Achi and the unhurried Lia through the city's hidden corners, looking for a woman neither has seen in years. Lia keeps going from one address to the next, her teacher's posture upright, a stranger in a place she never planned to see.