Crossing (15)

An emotionally engaging and highly intelligent film from Georgian-Swedish director Levan Akin. Lia, a retired Georgian teacher, has promised to find her long-lost niece, Tekla.

The search takes her to Istanbul, a city that seems full of connections and possibilities. She reluctantly takes along Achi, a restless teen whose mother went to work in the Turkish capital and never returned. He claims to know where her niece might be staying. Once there they meet Evrim, a lawyer fighting for trans rights, and Tekla starts to feel closer than ever. Sweet without being cloying, it’s a love letter to the shared sensibilities of Georgian and Turkish culture and reminds us that it’s never too late to change for the better.