Promis le Ciel

In a small, sun-bleached house on the outskirts of Tunis, there is a fragile sanctuary for Ivorian women. Marie, a pastor and former journalist, guides this unorthodox family. Her tenants are Naney, an undocumented mother who had to leave her child behind three years ago in a desperate search for work, and Jolie, a strong-willed student with legal papers who is carrying the weight of her family's hopes.

Their delicate, often tense, balance is shattered by the arrival of Kenza, a young girl who is the sole survivor of a shipwreck in the Mediterranean. As this new, multi-generational family of women forms, they must navigate a society increasingly marked by racism and hostility. Kenza's silent trauma becomes a mirror, reflecting each woman's own sacrifices, regrets, and precarious dreams. Her presence challenges their sense of solidarity, forcing each to confront what they have risked in the search for a place to call home.

A tender and quietly powerful observation of diasporic sisterhood, Fanta Régina Nacro's Promised Sky paints an intimate portrait of resilience. With a compassionate gaze and nuanced performances from its leading trio, the film becomes a poignant meditation on motherhood in exile, the burdens of ambition, and the meaning of sanctuary in a world that refuses to see you. (Bethan Hughes)