Crossing the Line

The film depicts a day in a psychoanalyst’s life. His patients come in turn; their stories reveal the protagonist’s past.
From the film’s opening frame, we know the day is going to end up in a rather violent or even tragic way.
Only at the finale do we understand what has really happened and what’s going on.
The film but few shots takes place in a confined space, the psychoanalyst’s office.

Le film décrit une journée dans la vie d’un psychanalyste. Ses patients viennent à tour de rôle; leurs histoires révèlent le passé du protagoniste.
Dès le début du film, nous savons que la journée se terminera de manière violente, voire tragique.
Ce n’est que lors de la finale que nous comprenons ce qui s’est réellement passé et ce qui se passe.
Le film sauf quelques plans ont été tournés dans un espace confiné, le bureau du psychanalyste.

  • Anar Azimov
    Director
  • Anar Azimov
    Writer
  • Anar Azimov
    Producer
  • Sergey Detyuk
    Key Cast
  • Iryna Lukashova
    Key Cast
  • Vadim Kuzlo
    Key Cast
  • Elena Myroshnychenko
    Key Cast
  • Artem Vilbik
    Key Cast
  • Elena Novikova
    Key Cast
  • Wladimir Burkowskii
    Key Cast
  • Kateryna Kotova
    Key Cast
  • Oleg Wenger
    Key Cast
  • Volodymyr Rohovenko
    Key Cast
  • Galyna Sviata
    Key Cast
  • Sergey Polyakov
    Key Cast
  • Ivan Kovalskiy
    Key Cast
  • Liubov Tyshchenko
    Key Cast
  • Oleksandr Nykonovych
    Cinematographer
  • Vladyslav Donchenko
    Sound Designer
  • Anar Azimov
    Music
  • Oksana Lazareva
    Set Dresser
  • Yana Gatsenko
    Make-up
  • Nelli Gutsenko
    Make-up
  • Galyna Salnikova
    Make-up
  • Nadejda Loban
    Casting
  • Konstantin Polyakov
    Editor and Colourist
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Feature, Television
  • Genres:
    Drama, Arthouse, Thriller, Mystery
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 26 minutes 23 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    October 29, 2018
  • Production Budget:
    21,200 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Ukraine
  • Country of Filming:
    Ukraine
  • Language:
    Russian
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Filmfest Bremen
    Bremen
    Germany
    September 22, 2019
    World premiere
    Official selection/Nomination for Innovation Prize
  • Bucovina International Film Festival
    Chernivtsi
    Ukraine
    October 19, 2019
    National premiere
    Original idea/script /Коронація Слова
  • Chicago Arthouse Television Awards
    Chicago
    United States
    November 19, 2019
    Federico Fellini Award nomination for best feature film
Distribution Information
  • Philippe Louis Galliano
    Sales Agent
  • MY Spotlight Independent
    Distributor
Director Biography - Anar Azimov

Born in 1969. PhD in Philosophy (1995). British Council Playwright Course graduate (1999). Alexander Sokurov’s Film Directing online course graduate (2021).

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

This film started from a character, the lift man, invented by my wife.
Isn’t the psychoanalyst’s room as a lift with patients as passengers?
The action almost entirely takes place in the room, which is the protagonist’s brain projection. Each piece of the set such as photos bears some meaning to illustrate the plot.
There are common filming ways to form viewers’ impression of a dream. However, I didn’t want viewers to realise it early; at the same time, I wanted them to be prepared to the finale as it’s found out the protagonist is in coma, and the action is what he is dreaming about. Therefore, I wanted to find a filming style neither too realist nor directly dream-like. This is the reason why the set looks somewhat like a stage. The patients appear and disappear: we never see them come and go.
I developed frame sequences and shooting styles to illustrate every patient’s story and make it visually different from others‘. For example, the camera comes closer to a character as long as we realise a relatively adult woman hides behind a mask of a young TV star while the shot is changing from a tv style towards a cinema format; in contrast, the camera moves away from a character while she’s trying to forget her past; hand-held camera is used to show some characters’ nervous breakdown; etc.
“Crossing the line” means going over the boundary between patients and the psychoanalyst. It also means breaking the cinematographic 180-rule to show how the protagonist becomes a patient himself and “changes sides” with his visitors. The same rule at the end shows his wife speaks to him while he’s in coma; she doesn’t know if he hears her.
It’s been a difficult project to me as the budget only was 22,000$. So, the crew was very small with myself running all the logistics, shooting photos for the set etc; the cinematographer acting as the gaffer; and so on.