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
Music: 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

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Sales Company

HanWay Films

8 Basing Street
London
W11 1ET