Transnistra
Atmospherically shot on 16mm film, Transnistra is an intimate and vital account of love and friendship in a complex, contradictory world. Award-winning director Anna Eborn (Pine Ridge) intimately follows a group of young people as they move from a sweltering, carefree summer through an unforgiving winter in the self-proclaimed state of Transnistria, where the national flag still holds the hammer and sickle.
About the film
Transnistra is set in the self-appointed nation Transnistria (Priednestrovia), a narrow strip of land adjacent to Ukraine, where, against an unforgiving landscape of Soviet heritage, a group of 16-year olds search for safety, freedom and meaning. A naturalistic and humane documentary feature, Transnistra charts a narrative from a sweltering, carefree summer through an unforgiving winter, as each of the film’s disparate characters learn to understand each other’s hopes and needs.
The film’s focus largely falls on Tanya, a headstrong and caring young woman who spends her time among a ragtag group of young males, each of whom seem to be in love with her, and while treating her as one of their own, alternately vie for her affections and wisdom. Having not completed their school studies and unable to find work, the small crew spend their time exploring abandoned construction sites, often scaling structures with a daredevil sensibility and a youthful carelessness. As they descend to great lakes and spots of overgrown natural beauty, they discuss their hopes and dreams in good humour, soaking in the sun and each other.
Transnistria is not however, an idyllic environment for young people and the past of the former communist state hangs heavy in the air. As Tanya attempts to engineer a future for herself outside of the country, these lovestruck young men begin to contemplate their own future which seems to offer frighteningly limited possibilities.
About the filmmaker
Anna Eborn (b.1983) is a filmmaker from Sweden. Her debut feature length and self-edited documentary, Pine Ridge, was selected in the Official Selection at the Venice International Film Festival 2013 and won best Nordic documentary at the International Film festival in Gothenburg in 2014. Further films include Epifania, a hybrid/fiction which premiered at the Busan International Film Festival in 2016 and the feature-length documentary Lida, which premiered in competition at CPH:DOX 2017 and in the international competition at Visions du Reel 2017. Her new film Transnistra celebrated its world premiere as part of the Big Screen Competition at the 2019 International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR).