Self Portrait Along the Borderline

A vibrant personal search for national and personal identity within the complicated and controversial Georgian-Abkhaz relationships.

An abandoned house opens the door to revisit the past by bringing to life a unique, nearly destroyed image archive from the unrecognized territory on the border of the Black Sea: Abkhazia. A place normally inaccessible for Georgians because of the ethnic conflict that happened between Georgia and Abkhazia back in 1993. Combining voice, archive, and recent footage, the director delves into the complexities of nationalism and identity in times of war and global displacement.  

AVTOPORTRETI ZGHVARZE | Anna Dziapshipa | 2023 | Georgia

FESTIVALS & AWARDS (SELECTION) 

Vision du Reel, 2023 – Best Medium Length Film | Sarajevo Film Festival, 2023 | Sevil International Women’s Documentary Film Festival, 2023 – Best Feature-length Documentary | Frontdoc, 2023 – Best Mid-Length Documentary | SEEfest, 2024 – Honorable Mention | Eliso Awards, 2024 – Special Mention for Best Editing

DIRECTOR’S BIO 

Anna Dziapshipa, born in 1982 and based in Tbilisi, Georgia, is a filmmaker and a producer specializing in documentary film. With a background in art history, film production, and cultural management, Anna explores themes of memory, identity, and the transformation of physical borders. The last fiction film of Aleksandre Koberidze “What We See When We Look at the Sky” which she co-produced was part of the main competition of the Berlin International Film Festival (FIPRESCI award) and had a theatrical release in the USA, Germany, France, etc. She is also the author of several short films, and collaborates with various platforms and organizations, lending her skills as a writer, lecturer, and tutor. Her works have gained recognition in international film festivals and art exhibitions. Anna Dziapshipa, a 2022 Fulbright scholar, conducted her research at the University of Arkansas, focusing on the development of a syllabus for documentary production. She has been teaching this course since 2016 at the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs in the Department of Audio-Visual Studies.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

This is a documentary, composed of home videos, my family’s photo archive, official TV and radio archives, and videos of my grandfather’s football matches. My approach is to use the archive materials in a subjective and personal way, as to allow the spectator to experience it through my eyes. An essential part of the film is the sound. I also have access to exclusive material that captures the current atmosphere in Abkhazia. Although this is my personal story, I want to address the broad spectrum of challenges we all are facing. The constant struggle to improve and to find a place in today’s geopolitical context, and to find or to become free from the concept of home or identity. Thus, the film offers a space to reflect, rethink the past, and listen to the very recent history of this forgotten conflict. There are some films made in Abkhazia or about Abkhazia but rarely from filmmakers that are connected to this place biographically or physically. This film is an attempt to balance my Georgian and Abkhaz perspectives about this complex and forgotten conflict.