Cinema
Crossing Over
Traversées
Mahmoud Ben Mahmoud · 1982
Synopsis
On 31 December 1980, two travellers, Youssef, a reserved man, and Bogdan, talkative and anxious, are refused entry to the United Kingdom. The next day, their expired visas also bar them from returning to Belgium: they are trapped aboard the ferry linking the two countries, condemned to cross the Channel in one direction and then the other without ever docking. Each looks, in his own way, for a way out.
Context
Ben Mahmoud's first feature film, inspired by an episode he lived through, it was co-written with Philippe Lejuste and co-produced by Satpec, in Tunis, and Marisa Films, in Brussels. Gilberto Azevedo operated the camera and Moufida Tlatli edited it, to music by Francesco Accolia; Fadhel Jaziri plays Youssef and Julian Negulesco Bogdan, alongside Eva Darlan and Vincent Grass. Shot in English, with dialogue in Arabic, Wolof, Russian, Flemish and French, it runs from ninety-five to ninety-seven minutes depending on the sources. A restored print, from the Royal Belgian Film Archive, was shown at the Deutsche Kinemathek in Berlin and, in 2024, at the Carthage Film Days.
Who it is for
A closed-room drama set on a boat, between the absurd and tragedy, accessible without prior knowledge of Tunisian cinema.
Prizes and reception
Shown at the Venice Film Festival in 1982 and at the La Rochelle festival in 1983; screened in a restored print at Carthage in 2024.
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