A quiet but powerful portrait of displacement, femininity, and the elusive meaning of home.

After many years working far from home, Mila is forced to temporarily leave her seaside mansion – and her secret romance – to return to her family in a remote Polish village. But the long-awaited reunion is far from what she imagined. As tensions surface, Mila struggles to repair what was lost, confronting the cost of her choices and the woman she has become.

This approach, telling women’s stories without assuming that they should behave in the same way as men, has already become a hallmark of Or Sinai’s short career. The director also admits that she feels more comfortable depicting female characters. For “Mama”, she once again calls upon the talents of Evgenia Dodina who plays Mila in the film, a woman who returns to her village in Poland for a short time and is faced with numerous internal conflicts. The multilingual actress is a renowned performer in Israel, capable of performing in six languages, and who learned Hebrew to perform in a play. Here she delivers another subtle, sensitive performance.

Or Sinai’s debut feature “Mama” had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.