Christina

dir. NIKOLA SPASIC

DUTCH PREMIERE

An engaging docufiction about a transgender sex worker in Serbia. Christina, who plays herself in the film, loves her cat and is very religious. She collects antiques and undergoes non-hypnotic regression sessions.

A compelling observational film that brings trans-identity and religion together, and confronts two different worlds in Serbia, the traditional one and the more open one. Christina, who used to be a man, lives with her cat in a small but luxuriously decorated house. Her life, like her sex appointments, is precisely timed. One day she accidentally meets Marko, a former student of theology. After a series of chance encounters, Christina wonders whether he is a phantom or her soulmate. It is an intriguing portrayal of a person torn between selling physical love and searching for unconditional love.

KRISTINA | 2022 | 90 min | Serbia

FESTIVALS & AWARDS (SELECTION) 

Belgrade Documentary and Short Film Festival, 2023 – Best Director | Brussels International Film Festival, 2022 | FIDMarseille, 2022 – First Film Award | Seville European Film Festival, 2022 – Best Emerging Director | Merlinka Festival, 2022 – Best Feature Film, Special Festival Award | Doc Alliance Awards, Cannes 2023

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

Five years ago, I was developing a thesis for my PhD program and started looking for a person whose life and personality could inspire my research. My screenwriter, Milanka Gvoic, told me about Kristina whom she saw on YouTube. I watched that video and we agreed to find her and set up a meeting. Kristina was interested in what we proposed. I quickly felt at ease when I realized that I could work with Kristina on her acting skills, and she could play the lead role in my project. An important moment in the film’s development happened when Kristina invited us to her home, which she had decorated herself with a lot of dedication. Its authenticity and rich photogenic quality made a deep impression on me. Before starting work on this film, Milanka and I had been working on a project set in the late 19th and early 20th century. We had had long conversations about the ways prostitutes and courtesans were depicted in literature, art, and on film through the years. It was a great coincidence that everything we had been delving into before and the things we were just starting to explore on the new project seemed to merge beautifully. It became clear that our film about a sex worker should be visually inspired by French impressionism.

DIRECTOR’S BIO 

Nikola Spasić is a Serbian film director who lives and works in Novi Sad. He graduated from the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Film and TV directing. He holds a master’s degree in Editing from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts at Belgrade University of Arts and is currently a final-year PhD student at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad. His documentary film “Why Dragan Gathered His Band” (2017) has been shown at more than 40 festivals around the world winning several awards. “Christina” is his feature debut.