Julia doesn’t remember how her boyfriend Nahuel ended up dead, his lover Ramiro badly wounded and herself bloodied in her Buenos Aires apartment. Her shock continues when, soon after, she finds herself confined to the “lion’s den,” a unique detention ward where mothers and young children are confined. Julia is pregnant, alone, and now sees her fate before her.

As her belly grows, (Lion’s Den was filmed during actor, co-producer Martina Gusman’s actual pregnancy) Julia must join this ad hoc village to survive. Soon, Marta takes Julia under her wing, and into her bed. As years pass, Marta teaches Julia how to care for little Tomás, raised behind bars in the only home he has ever known — an odd and often miserable place — but one with a loving mother.

But the clock is ticking. When Tomás turns four, he can no longer stay in the lion’s den. Outside forces begin to close in on Julia, the walls of prison failing to keep their long reach at bay. Julia’s long-estranged mother Sofia wishes to take Tomás and leave Julia to rot, while Ramiro returns to the picture, further clouding the picture as Julia continues to await her hearing.

Vividly brought to life in all her complexity by Gusman, Julia grows into a fierce mother willing to risk it all to keep her son and be free in this compelling award-winning film. — CAROL HARADA