A Decade in the Making, ‘Crossing the Bridge’ Doc Finds Its Audience

BY SCOTTIE KNOLLIN

For over a decade, North Dakota-based filmmaker and NDFS member, Marek Dojs, has been crafting a passion project. The documentary, “Crossing the Bridge: Discovering Mutual Language in Sibera”, follows Ana and Kristine, two members of a Native American initiative sent to Russia to connect with several indigenous people. While the focus of the film was to remain on Ana and Kristine, the project evolved into something more personal for Dojs, who found himself and his own understanding and appreciation of culture as part of the film’s subject.

In the description of the film, currently available to screen for free on Vimeo, Dojs shares his filmmaking process. “Initially, I was not a character, but I continued to struggle with the primary spine of the structure of the film. Adding myself as a character and the narration were the final additions of the film.”

Principal photography in Siberia took place in 2009. The film shows Ana and Kristine as they try new foods, experiences cultural music, and meet locals. Though he’d captured incredible footage, Dojs was left without a finished project after the initial purpose of the film fell through. “Initially, the footage was going to be used for promoting the work of the initiative that these students were members of. That never happened and the footage ended back in my complete control - with no intended purpose,” he shared.

“Over the next few years, I would come back to the beautiful footage of Siberia and the peoples we met. I knew there was something more here. I continued to develop as a filmmaker and a professor. In 2012, I decided to shape the footage into a film about culture - primarily how culture informs the ways we see ourselves within our communities and in relation to the world.”

“Crossing the Bridge” is available to stream for free on Vimeo. In addition to his work as a filmmaker, Dojs is the chair of the Communications Program at the University of Mary in Bismarck. His works have been screened across the globe, including as part of “The Territory”, a long-running showcase of independent short films on PBS.