TransBorder Conversations

Moving People and Images Journal () has partnered with the Finnish Film Foundation (Suomen elokuvasäätiö, ) to publish a new article by Camille Auer (), a media and performance artist, writer, and cultural critic. The piece grew out of our Transborder Conversations Masterclass with director Ilrhan Kim and screening of her documentary Edhi Alice earlier this September.
You can read the English version of the article on the MPI Journal website, and the Finnish version is available on the Finnish Film Foundation’s site.

“Art can open a small door into someone else’s lived reality. Thinking of Alice’s words to her cat at the beginning of the film—‘if you understood me, you’d be human’—maybe this film lets someone who isn’t a trans woman from South Korea understand even a fraction of that experience. Or maybe it simply offers a glimpse into the lives of two specific, beautiful, hurting, loving, imperfect, and immeasurably important women.”

On the second day of Transborder Conversations we welcomed filmmaker Koldo Almandoz, who shared his film Oreina (The Deer, ) and joined us for a masterclass moderated by Nerea Mandiola Solozabal .s

When asked whether he thought Oreina was intended for a Basque or international audience, Koldo replied with his characteristic almost deadpan humor: “Disgracefully, I didn’t.” This set the tone for a conversation that mixed wit with serious reflection on filmmaking, identity, and peripheries.

Through Oreina, Koldo explored peripheries both personal and geographical, showing also what often remains unseen on screen. The film touches on Basque identity, its pride and paradoxes, while also resonating beyond the Basque Country, connecting to Finland, and some other peripheral ways of living.

Thank you to Koldo and Nerea for the conversation, and to our audience for your thoughtful questions.

Our events are supported by and in collaboration with Many thanks! ✨

Photography by