Lena Krins

The Village Next to Paradise

In a windy Somali village, a newly assembled family must navigate between their different aspirations and the complex world surrounding them. Love, trust and resilience will power them through their life paths.

Joy

Close to paying off her debts, a Nigerian sex worker in Austria coaches a reluctant novice, and assesses the risks of taking a faster path to freedom.

Talea

Fourteen-year-old Jasmin longs to be near her biological mother, Eva. Following her mother’s release from prison, an excursion into the country together becomes a first test for the fledgling mother-daughter relationship. They smoke, dance and stroll together – the mood is promising. But time and again, it is revealed that their needs and expectations are light years apart. For the moment, neither Eva nor Jasmin seem up to the task of fulfilling each other’s need for identity and support. (Talea is Italian for scion, a detached shoot or twig containing buds from a woody plant, used in grafting.)