Project Detail

Sweetness in the Belly

Synopsis

Abandoned in Africa as a child, following a visit to the Sufi shrine in Bilal al Habash, Lilly is taken in by the shrine’s spiritual leader Great Abdal and brought up there as a devoted Muslim. At 17, she leaves for Ethiopia, where she falls in love with an idealistic doctor. With civil war looming, danger grows. Lilly is forced to flee to England. She finds home in a friendship with Amina, a refugee from Ethiopia who has fled the same war, and together they begin a mission to reunite people with their scattered families. We soon discover that Lilly’s mission isn’t purely selfless and Amina has buried a secret that she is trying to flee.
Official Selection Toronto International Film Festival 2019 - Discovery - World premiere

Details

Year: 2019
Type of film: Features
Running time: 110 mins
Director: Zeresenay Berhane Mehari
Producer: Jennifer Kawaja, Julia Sereny, Alan Moloney, Susan Mullen
Executive Producer: Mehret Mandefro, Adrian Sturges, Laura Bickford, Fiona Druckenmiller, Patrick Roy, Christina Kubacki
Editor: Susan Maggi
Screenwriter: Laura Phillips (screenplay), Camilla Gibb (novel)
Director of Photography: Tim Fleming ISC
Production Designer: Paki Smith
Composer: Todor Kobakov
Principal cast: Dakota Fanning, Wunmi Mosaku, Kunal Nayyar, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II

Genre

Woman Director Drama

Production Status

Complete

Production Company

A Sienna Films (CA), Parallel Films (IE) production

Parallel Films UK

107-109 Great Portland Street
London
W1W 6QG

Visit Website

Sales Company

HanWay Films

8 Basing Street
London
W11 1ET

Visit Website

Page updates

This page was last updated on 12th May 2025. Please let us know if we need to make any amendments or request edit access by clicking below.

Suggest amendments

Told through leaked footage compiled by a whistle-blower, the film follows Emma and Richard, a couple thrust into the wilderness to survive for 100 days. Their confidence quickly turns to terror as a malevolent creature begins stalking them, ultimately killing Richard in a gruesome attack. Emma escapes and infiltrates the facility where the show's creators review their "progress." There, she discovers the chilling truth: the creature is part of their unholy science. With the odds stacked against her, Emma turns the tables - delivering brutal justice with unexpected aid from the very horror that was meant to destroy her. A darkly satirical blend of horror, sci-fi, and mockumentary, THE WILDING exposes the monstrous extremes the powerful will go to cheat death - and the human cost of their ambition.

Horror Sci-Fi