Borderline | Where The World Ends

border Lithuania - Belarus
a film by Anna Savchenko
In production
The border between Lithuania and Belarus once was a fluid border between Soviet republics. Today it is one of the forgotten European outskirts with the Schengen fence dividing communities, families, lives.

One hour drive from Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital, everyone has to pass a strict border control, when leaving the “Free West” towards Belarus, “the last dictatorship in Europe”. Crossing this border is a time consuming and almost absurd performance. However, there are people who are confronted with this border on a daily basis, where the border literally cuts through their backyard. What used to be a daily routine of paying a visit to relatives or friends, going to church or to the cemetery now became a complicated process involving crosspoint schedules, visa and other complicated bureaucratic procedures. A great example of forgotten 'European outskirts', the paradox of the free Schengen region which here is dividing communities, families and lives.

About the director

Anna Savchenko is a Belarusian filmmaker currently based in Brussels. Her graduation film “I am not here” was awarded as a label film of DocNomads masters and was in the official competition of États généraux du film documentaire festival in Lussas, France. Anna worked in different production, film, art and media projects around the world, and  made several short films exploring the poetic dialog between documentary and experimental genres. She co-directed and edited the internationally awarded film “God’s mistake. Anna did camera and sound work for the documentary film Kalès (IDFA 2017and winner grand prix at Filmer à Tout Prix festival 2017) and was the editor of “We will remember them”, closing film of Visions du Réel, Nyon, Suisse, 2019.
 

Credits

a film by
Anna Savchenko

written by
Anna Savchenko
Frederik Nicolai

cinematopgraphy by
Tatsiana Haurylchyk

edited by
Pierpaulo Filomeno
Thomas Pooters

assistant director
Domenico Centrone

production manager
Iva Tkalec
Setareh Samavi

Sound edit & Design
Rune Hansen

Original music by
Frédéric Vercheval

Sound Mix
Jean-François Levillain

Awards & festivals

World premiere at Astra Film Festival
Roumania, 2021

official selection  Inconvenient Films
Lithuania, 2021

Production Details

Off World production

in co-production with
VRT-CANVAS

in co-production with 
In_Script
Relation04 Media
Kinoteka
Umedia
in association with Ufund

with the Support from 
Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF|MEDIA)
Screen Brussels | Brussels Capital Region
The Belgian Federal Government Tax Shelter
Norwegian Film Center
Filmfond Nord
Creative Europe Programme - MEDIA of the European Union