Self Portrait Along the Borderline is a documentary about the obsession with identity and home. An abandoned house turns out to be a trap and a revelation; a “rite of passage” that opens the door to revisit the past. Fragments create a personal and political biography. The film searches for lost and split identity using both archive material and recent footage from the Black Sea – former “Soviet Riveira” – Abkhazia, now in an liminal state and isolated position. The film touches on the complexity of nationalism and identity in times of war and global displacement through a personal story of a divided family. It is a story that also reflects recent history and becomes a manual of what comes next once the wars are over.
“Self Portrait Along the Borderline is the personal story of my divided family. I am from a mixed family; my father is Abkhaz and mother is Georgian. Due to my Georgian citizenship, I was not able to go back to Abkhazia for more than 25 years. Several years ago I went to Abkhazia and found a house from my past. First thing I saw when I opened the door that had been locked for 25 years, was my portrait as a 10 year old. It was like unlocking Pandora’s box that exposed lots of painful and pleasant memories. Only now do I realise how each political process intervenes in our routines, radically changing them. Both the places that I belong to and me are in the process of finding home, its identity”, Anna Dziapshipa told FNE.
The film is produced by Anna Dziapshipa through Sakdoc Film (Georgia) and coproduced by Murman Original Pictures LLC; with Niko Mikadze as executive producer.
"The budget of the documentary film is around 80.000 EUR. The Georgian National Film Center (GNFC), Heinrich Boell Foundation Tbilisi Office - South Caucasus Region and Konrad Adenauer Foundation are among the funders of the film, also American Film Showcase with in-kind contribution. The documentary is in the postproduction stage. We hope the film can be finished in the autumn of 2022", Dziapshipa also said.
“It was an honour for the project to be selected for KVIFF works in progress among very few and special documentary film projects. It was also very helpful for the film’s future distribution and place in the festival circuit. I have had several important meetings, which will hopefully grow into professional collaboration very soon”, Dziapshipa added.
Anna Dziapshipa is the co-founder and director of the documentary film production company Sakdoc Film. She is the producer of Salome Jashi’s first documentary Bakhmaro (2011) and the last fiction film of Aleksandre Koberidze What We See When We Look at the Sky (2021) that she co-produced through Sakdoc Film was part of the main competition of the Berlin International Film Festival (FIPRESCI award). Anna is also the author of several short films which often explore the transformation of physical borders into memory and identity.
Production Information:
Producer:
Sakdoc Film (Georgia)
24g Kazbegi Ave., 0160, Tbilisi, Georgia
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.(Anna Dziapshipa)
Coproducers:
Murman Original Pictures LLC (Georgia)
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (Niko Mikadze)
Credits:
Director,Dop and Sound: Anna Dziapshipa
Music: Nikoloz Paniashvili
Editor: Eka Tsotsoria
Sound design and mix: Paata Goziashvili
Color Correction: Nodar Nozadze
