In this intimate and biographical self-portrait, Anna Dziapshipa transports us to a quest for identity marked by the conflict between Abkhazian separatists and the Georgian army in the early 1990s. Drawing on family archives and recalling childhood vacations in an old summer house, the director examines her past—a time when her identity didn’t yet carry traces of a conflict that would cause the death and disappearance of over 25,000 people. Dziapshipa’s narration unfolds against a soundscape in which fireworks and gunshots are sometimes indistinguishable. What comes to light are the complex challenges that arise when a border is created and families, against their will, find themselves on both sides. (MAS)

competition : International Short and Medium-Length Competition

Self-Portrait Along the Borderline