In a gripping opening sequence, a pregnant young woman, Julia, wakes in her apartment eside the bloodied bodies of two men, Ramiro and Nahuel. Ramiro is still alive, Nahuel s dead, and Julia herself is pretty beaten. We deduce that both have been her lovers, and hat a crime of passion has occurred. The night’s events are unclear, and both Ramiro and
Julia are arrested. When Julia is eventually convicted, she faces the prospect of raising her on in jail, with the knowledge that when he is four he will be taken away from her.

"Leonera is an impressively yet quietly assured film, one that takes its time and makes us ive along with its characters. There’s a rough-hewn realism, but there’s also a subtle lyrical quality to it; the performances are impressive but unforced, the camerawork contemplated ithout being showy.” (James Rocchi, Cinematical)

Julia amanece en su departamento, rodeada de los cuerpos ensangrentados de Ramiro y Nahuel. Ramiro aún vive; Nahuel ha muerto. Ambos han sido sus amantes. Julia, embarazada e uno de ellos, es enviada a la cárcel, y allí nace su hijo, Tomás. La causa udicial por la muerte de Nahuel, tiene dos posibles culpables: Julia y Ramiro, que se incriminan uno al otro. Julia, acostumbrada al universo de la cárcel, se ha transformado n una mujer dura, que deberá luchar para recuperar su libertad y la de su hijo.

“Pablo Trapero reconstruye con rigor casi documental el mundo carcelario, que sirve de marco a esta historia repleta de sobria emoción. El suspense y la acción acompañan esde la primera a la última imagen del film esta historia de amor y de busqueda e libertad. Pero no es Leonera una película más sobre la violencia del mundo carcelario, sino una historia muy humana entre esa mujer y su hijo. Un film brillante”. (Julio Feo Zarandieta, Radio France)

Pablo Trapero was born in 1972 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Trapero studied architecture and film at the Universidad del Cine in Buenos Aires. His dazzling career began in black-andwhite with the film Mundo Grúa, one of the most significant films of the Argentine New Wave. Leonera was selected for the main competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008. Since then, the film has been selected for a number of festivals and has won several awards, including best Latin American Film at the Mexican Academy Awards and the Jury Prize at the Havana Film Festival in Cuba.

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