The Crossing

2021, Florence Miailhe, France/Germany/Czech Republic

Before our screenings of The Crossing we will be playing the short film Democracy (14 mins) by Wellington-raised filmmaker and writer, Finnius Teppett. The run time has been adjusted accordingly.

Halfway through Florence Miailhe’s 2021 animated feature The Crossing, the audience is told “Nothing is black and white. Life is grey. If you want to make it, start seeing grey.” This line has a double irony in the film: not only is the narrative here quite clear-cut and simple, but the story is told in spectacular colour throughout.

In an unnamed European country, war is escalating. Siblings Kyona and Adriel are separated from their parents after their village is destroyed, and must make it to the border alone. Like many coming-of-age ‘voyage’ films (such as the work of Irish animator Tomm Moore, or even My Life as a Dog, also in this year’s programme), what anchors the story is the collection of diverse characters met along the way. Adriel and Kyona encounter circus performers, human traffickers, street urchins and the wealthy owners of an estate with an impressive aviary.

What is most unusual and memorable about The Crossing, however, is its animation style. Rather than traditional cel animation, where each frame is separate from the one before it, Miailhe has created this film with oil paint on glass panes. This gives the animation a smeary, mutable quality, reminiscent of the paintings done in school art classes. Below the primary colours and simple line art, the shifting textures of the paint hint at the instability Adriel and Kyona are facing.

“Highly original, inventive and […] on the right borderline between harsh realism and the classical roots of storytelling..” – Fabien Lemercier, Cineuropa