The Hill Where Lionesses Roar is set in Kosovo. Once part of Yugoslavia, it is only barely remembered by many for its war of independence and the unrest has followed. However, rather than the political situation, this film focuses on the oppressive environment surrounding three young women living in a small town. When their dreams and ambitions are never heard, not being able to withstand the boredom and isolation that seem to have no end, they finally form a gang. But how long will the liberation and freedom of crime last?
Luàna Bajrami, the director and writer of the film, who plays Lena, is an actor also known in Korea as Sophie, the maid in Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019). There is the outside perspective of someone who has returned after working in France, yet the film stays honest even in this aspect. Above all, in this feature-length debut by Bajrami, there is a sense of realism in the work created by a creator born in 2001 while interacting with young women of the same generation. After all, there are conditions of life that young women can't help but encounter, no matter what region or era, and the film addresses this dark universality. [Djuna]