Gelila Bekele

Tyler Perry is America’s consummate multihyphenate. But underneath this entertainment behemoth is a man working humbly to heal his childhood trauma by transforming his pain into promise. This documentary, a nod to his mother’s love, is an intimate portrait of visionary Tyler Perry and his harrowing but faithful road to the top of an industry that didn’t always include him.

Asalif and his mother defy Ethiopia’s omnipresent modern housing development culture, by continuing to live a life characterised by proximity to nature and rootedness in community. The boy counters the ruptures in his accustomed surroundings and the threat posed by the hyena that haunts his neighbourhood by reinventing himself as a hero: as Anbessa, the lion.