Feature Film
The Crossing

La Traversée


Introduction by Florence Miailhe

NY Premiere

Online: Sat, Feb 19–Mon, Feb 21
On Eventive
In Person: Fri, Feb 11 at 7pm
FIAF Florence Gould Hall

Ages 13 & up



Dir. Florence Miailhe, 2021, France, Germany, Czech Republic, Color. 84 min.
In French with English subtitles

Annecy International Animation Film Festival 2021 – Official Selection – Jury Mention
Animation is Film 2021 – Official Selection – Audience Award
César Awards 2022 – Nominated for Best Animated Feature Film

On a migratory road, two older children, Kyona and Adriel, are quickly separated from their parents and siblings. Together they embark on a heroic journey which takes them from childhood to adolescence through a continent torn apart by war and persecution. In search of shelter, peace, and the hope of finding refuge and family, these courageous siblings survive incredible challenges before reaching a new world.

Based on her grandmother’s own story, Florence Miailhe’s first feature is a tale that offers an emotional look at immigration that will move all ages. Her use of animated painting with flamboyant colors, a rarely used technique, is simply dazzling.

There is an intense vibration in the films by Florence Miailhe. A running fever, an impulsive insolence, a palpitation of colors, of sounds, which make you dizzy.” – Catherine Humblot, Le Monde

About Florence Mialhe

Florence graduated from the Ecole des Arts Décoratifs with a specialization in engraving. She began her professional career as a press model maker, exhibiting drawings and engravings.

    • In 1991, she directed her first short film Hammam. Since then, she has imposed a very personal style in animated cinema with a pictorial sensuality and narrative poetry of her own. She makes her films based on paint, pastel or sand, directly under the camera, proceeding by recovery. Her work is noticed in various festivals in France and internationally. She received the César for best short film in 2002 for A Summer Night Rendez-vous, a special mention at the Cannes Film Festival in 2006 for Urban Tale and received in 2015 a Cristal d’honneur, at the 39th Annecy International Animated Film Festival for all of her work.

      She has worked as a teacher in prestigious animation schools: les Gobelins, ENSAD, la Poudrière, and continues to work as a visual artist.

      Most of her films have been written with the collaboration of writer Marie Desplechin. Their first feature film The Crossing received in 2010 the prize for best screenplay at the Premiers Plans Festival the Gan Foundation Award for Distribution, and the Audience Award at Animation is Film. It came out in France at the end of September 2021.

Related Event: Best of Annecy 2021

Friday, February 11 at 9:15pm

The Annecy International Animation Film Festival is the biggest animated film festival in the world. Straight from the 2021 edition and curated by the festival team, this program includes a series of notable award-winning shorts.

Learn More