The Lion at My Back

Mariama, an asylum-seeker from Senegal, has just turned eighteen. Stella, at first glance a withdrawn woman in her forties, has recently decided to break free from the clutches of addiction and to give her life a fresh start. In their attempt at finding their place in a world where nothing comes for free, the two women meet and form an unexpectedly strong bond. Following her 2018 debut Pause, Cypriot producer and director Tonia Mishiali returns to Karlovy Vary with a vivid, heartwarming, and hopeful story about how family bonds and motherly love can be found in the most unlikely places.