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Border Crossing

A drama based in the summer of 1989, the final year of communism in Eastern Europe, inspired by a childhood memory of crossing the border - not only between countries, but between the instinctive world of nature and the incomprehensible world of the adults.

The story follows paths dictated by the little girl's attention going from the bees buzzing around, to the rising tension between her parents, to the frightening border guard pacing along the queue.
As the heat rises and the atmosphere thickens, can the little girl melt the border guard's icy heart?

"Border Crossing" premiered at Krakow Film Festival 2019.

  • Agnieszka Chmura
    Director
  • Agnieszka Chmura
    Writer
  • Piotr Lenar
    Producer
  • Pola Galica Galoch
    Key Cast
    "Girl"
  • Agnieszka Koscielniak
    Key Cast
    "Mother"
  • Andrzej Rozmus
    Key Cast
    "Father"
  • Andrzej Franczyk
    Key Cast
    "Guard"
  • Joanna Kakitek
    Cinematography
  • Adriano Mantova
    Sound
  • Bartosz Idzi
    Sound
  • Przemysław Kopacz
    Editing
  • Agnieszka Chmura
    Editing
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Przejście Graniczne
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    15 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    April 11, 2019
  • Country of Origin:
    Poland
  • Country of Filming:
    Poland
  • Language:
    Polish
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Krakow Film Festival
    Krakow
    Poland
    May 28, 2019
    National
    National Competition
  • Camerimage
    Torun
    Poland
    November 11, 2019
    Etudes Panorama
  • Alice nella città
    Rome
    Italy
    October 19, 2019
    Italian premiere
    Official selection
  • Trieste Film Festival
    Trieste
    Italy
    Competition
  • Brest European Short Film Festival
    Brest
    France
    European Competition
  • Un festival c'est trop court!
    Nice
    France
    October 14, 2019
    French premiere
    European Competition
  • Seoul International Film Festival
    Seoul
    Korea, Republic of
    September 22, 2019
    Korean Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Directed By Women Turkey
    Istanbul
    Turkey
    September 14, 2019
    Turkish Premiere
    Finalist
  • Charlotte Film Festival
    Charlotte, NC
    United States
    September 25, 2019
    American Premiere
    Official Selection
  • World of Film International Festival Glasgow
    Glasgow
    United Kingdom
    October 3, 2019
    UK Premiere
    Female Perspective Award
  • Bihać Avantura Film Festival
    Bihać
    Bosnia and Herzegovina
    August 2, 2019
    European
    Best Short Fiction Award
  • Chaktomuk Short Film Festival
    Phnom Penh
    Cambodia
    September 6, 2019
    Asian Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Northern Wave International Film Festival
    Rif
    Iceland
    October 25, 2019
    Icelandic Premiere
    International selection
  • Filmski Front Festival
    Novi Sad
    Serbia
    October 24, 2019
    Serbian premiere
    Official selection
  • Film Spring Open
    Krakow
    Poland
    October 17, 2019
  • Short to the Point

    Romania
    Best Film, Best Cinematography - September 2019
  • Festival Internacional de Cine Luz del Desierto
    Buenos Aires
    Argentina
    South America
    Best International Short Film Award
  • Cinemistica

    Spain
  • Shorts That Are Not Pants
    Toronto
    Canada
  • Festival International du cinéma d'auteur de Rabat

    Morocco
    African
  • Euroshorts
    Gdansk
    Poland
  • Beijing International Short Film Festival

    China
  • Shinjuku World Festival
    Tokyo
    Japan
  • CineKasimanwa: The Western Visayas Film Festival

    Philippines
Director Biography - Agnieszka Chmura

Born in Krakow, Poland in 1986, studied Documentary Film at Université Aix-Marseille in France, currently based in London where she works as video editor. "Border Crossing" is her debut short fiction.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

"Border crossing" is a film about approaching borders and limits, external and internal.
It's summer 1989. A little girl is traveling with her parents, enjoying the summer, the holidays, her childhood. But as the family approaches the border, the girl senses unspecified fear, anxiety. She enters the world of adults which she doesn't understand. She doesn't see the boundaries of this world, doesn't understand what has changed suddenly, doesn't know the rules of the game.
Conflicts between the characters grow within glances and conjectures. When the harsh border guard realises that the girl found his human feelings, he immediately rejects that realisation. A scratch appears on the system when it turns out that its ferocious servant has fragility on the inside like all of us, and the helpless little girl finds her inner strength.
My film is also a sentimental and scary journey into the not too distant past behind the Iron Curtain. The film is based on my short but intense memory of crossing the border as a three-year-old, a memory of that feeling of fear, even though we had nothing to hide. Now I am a mother myself and again I look at the world from the perspective of a child, who enters this world and explores its confusing ways, dangers, feelings, systems and boundaries.