My Films Catalogue of Films

The Lion at My Back

Crystal Globe Competition / The Lion at My Back / Cyprus, Luxembourg, Greece 2026

Screenings

Monday 6/7 / 19:30

Grand Hall

417

Tuesday 7/7 / 13:00

Pupp

5P2

Wednesday 8/7 / 19:00

Lazne III

6L4

Thursday 9/7 / 16:00

Congress Hall

734

Synopsis

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 Stella, at first glance a withdrawn woman in her forties, has recently decided to break free from the clutches of addiction and to give her life a fresh start.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.

Natalia Kozáková

About the film

106 min / Color, DCP
World premiere
Director Tonia Mishiali / Screenplay Tonia Mishiali, Dianne Jones, Simona Nobile / Dir. of Photography Manu Tilinski / Music Fredrika Stahl / Sound Kevin Feildel, Loïc Collignon / Editor Emilios Avraam / Art Director Christy Polydorou, Yiorgos Yiannou / Producer Tonia Mishiali, Katarzyna Ozga, Nicolas Steil, Marinos Charalambous, Vladimir Subotic, Antoine Simkine / Production Bark Like A Cat Films / Coproduction Iris Productions, Avaton Films / Cast Sokhna Diallo, Elena Kallinikou, Prokopis Agathocleous, Herodotos Miltiadous / Sales The Yellow Affair / Contact Brigitta Portier

About the director

Tonia Mishiali. Selected filmography: Dead End (2013, short), Pause (2018), I Don’t Like the Wind, I Like the Sun (2020, short doc.), Daphne (2022, short), The Lion at My Back (2026).