# Lion's Den
**Lion's Den** (*Leonera*) is a 2008 Argentine prison drama directed by Pablo Trapero, in which a young pregnant woman, Julia, is jailed for the killing of her lover and gives birth to a son she must raise inside a women's prison. It premiered in [Competition](https://www.edgepedia.org/competition) at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival and was produced as a co-production of Argentina, South Korea, and Brazil.[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/leonera/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original title / meaning | *Leonera*, Spanish for a place of transit where a prisoner is held before moving on; Trapero described it as "a cell"[2](https://miff.com.au/festival-archive/films/13158/lions-den) |
| Director and writers | Directed by Pablo Trapero; screenplay by Alejandro Fadel, Martín Mauregui, Santiago Mitre, and Trapero[3](https://www.tiff08.ca/filmsandschedules/films/lionsden/) |
| Principal cast | Martina Gusman (Julia), Elli Medeiros (Sofía), Rodrigo Santoro (Ramiro), Laura García (Marta)[3](https://www.tiff08.ca/filmsandschedules/films/lionsden/) |
| Premiere | In Competition, Cannes Film Festival 2008[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/leonera/) |
| Runtime and format | 113 minutes, color, 35 mm, Spanish language[3](https://www.tiff08.ca/filmsandschedules/films/lionsden/) |
| Production companies | Matanza Cine, Cineclick Asia (Fantom), Patagonik, Videofilmes[3](https://www.tiff08.ca/filmsandschedules/films/lionsden/) |
| Reception | 91% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (32 reviews); 72% audience score[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/leonera) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Julia (Martina Gusman) wakes in her apartment beside the bloodied bodies of Ramiro ([Rodrigo Santoro](https://www.edgepedia.org/rodrigo-santoro)) and Nahuel; Ramiro is still alive, and his testimony sends her to jail for murder.[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/leonera/) • [3](https://www.tiff08.ca/filmsandschedules/films/lionsden/) Whether Julia actually killed the men is never clearly established in the film.[5](https://www.scmp.com/article/674166/pablo-trapero) She discovers she is pregnant, and the story shifts from a crime thriller to an exploration of an incarcerated woman raising a child within the prison system.[3](https://www.tiff08.ca/filmsandschedules/films/lionsden/)
After a withdrawn start, Julia is helped through her early days by the fellow inmate Marta (Laura García) and is allowed to raise her newborn son, Tomás, in a ward for mothers.[6](https://fest.afi.com/2008/showcase-argentina-2008/lions-den-leonera/) Her mother, Sofía (Elli Medeiros), returns to her life and, behind Julia's back, works to gain custody of the boy so that he can grow up outside prison.[6](https://fest.afi.com/2008/showcase-argentina-2008/lions-den-leonera/) The film frames the conflict between Julia and her mother as a dilemma: whether it is better for the child to be raised beside his mother in prison, or without her, but in freedom.[7](https://strandreleasing.com/films/lions-den/) Julia also visits Ramiro in the men's prison, where the events of the night of the crime remain muddled for both of them, and she eventually fights for a new trial.[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/leonera/) • [3](https://www.tiff08.ca/filmsandschedules/films/lionsden/)
## Production
**Real locations and inmates.** The film was shot in the province of Buenos Aires between September and December 2007. According to the production notes, most of it was filmed inside maximum-security prisons with real inmates as extras, which the producers called an unprecedented event in Argentine filmmaking; some guards, matrons, and keepers were played by real staff of the Bonaerense Penitentiary System. Obtaining the permits required legal authorizations, stamps, files, and signatures from multiple authorities.[8](https://strandreleasing.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Lions_Den_presskit.pdf) The press kit thanks eight penitentiary units, including Unidad Penitenciaria N° 1 de Lisandro Olmos and units at Los Hornos, Gorina, San Martín, and Magdalena.[8](https://strandreleasing.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Lions_Den_presskit.pdf)
**Origins of the project.** Trapero has said the starting point was learning about Argentine laws concerning female inmates and their offspring.[9](https://www.screendaily.com/lions-den-leonera/4038788.article?storyCode=4038788) In another account, the idea began when his four-year-old son pointed out a pink-colored women's prison along a motorway.[5](https://www.scmp.com/article/674166/pablo-trapero) Gusman, Trapero's wife, is both the film's executive producer and its star, and part of her on-screen pregnancy was real.[3](https://www.tiff08.ca/filmsandschedules/films/lionsden/) • [5](https://www.scmp.com/article/674166/pablo-trapero)
## Release and reception
*Lion's Den* screened in Competition at Cannes in May 2008, Trapero's third film on the Croisette, and was nominated for the [Palme d'Or](https://www.edgepedia.org/palme-dor).[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/leonera/) • [10](https://www.festival-cannes.com/2008/competition-leonera-de-pablo-trapero/) It went on to [Karlovy Vary](https://www.edgepedia.org/karlovy-vary), Toronto, and Helsinki in 2008, and won Best Actress, Best Cinematography, Best Screenplay, and the Best Film prize at the Lima Latin American Film Festival, plus Best Art Direction and a Special Jury Prize at the Havana International Film Festival.[11](https://www.kulturstiftung-des-bundes.de/fileadmin/user_upload/content_stage/leuchttuerme/WCF_Booklet_2024.pdf) A Cannes press-kit summary lists it as a Golden Globes nominee for Best Foreign Language Film.[12](https://cdn-media.festival-cannes.com/pdf/0001/45/a5a5706fba7bb4cc171f6901d1e2d28d19f7c165.pdf)
In Spain, where it was distributed by Alta Classics, the film opened on 21 November 2008 and earned €57,488.78 from 10,568 spectators.[13](https://infoicaa.mcu.es/CatalogoICAA/es-es/Peliculas/Detalle?Pelicula=145708) It was released in Germany on June 4, 2009 under the title *Löwenkäfig*.[11](https://www.kulturstiftung-des-bundes.de/fileadmin/user_upload/content_stage/leuchttuerme/WCF_Booklet_2024.pdf) Critics were divided at Cannes itself: a *Le Monde* critic wrote that he spent nearly two hours wanting to love the film without quite managing it, while the Toronto festival program called it a superb new film and the London *Evening Standard* later praised it as social realism that avoids melodrama.[14](https://www.lemonde.fr/cinema/article/2008/05/15/attention-chute-d-etoiles_5980543_3476.html) • [3](https://www.tiff08.ca/filmsandschedules/films/lionsden/) • [15](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/social-realism-at-its-best-in-lions-den-7419228.html) On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds 91% among 32 critics, with a critics' consensus crediting Martina Gusman with a feral performance in a gripping prison drama.[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/leonera) As of late 2026 it streams in the United States on Netflix and can be rented or bought on Amazon Video.[16](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/lions-den)
## Themes and context
The film examines motherhood inside Argentina's carceral system, where wards house mothers and pregnant inmates and children can grow up behind bars.[1](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/leonera/) • [17](https://www.frameline.org/films/frameline33/lions-den) Trapero's stated starting point was the Argentine legal framework for female inmates and their children, and reviewers noted his critique of a penitentiary system that subjects pregnant inmates and their newborns to poor living conditions.[9](https://www.screendaily.com/lions-den-leonera/4038788.article?storyCode=4038788) • [5](https://www.scmp.com/article/674166/pablo-trapero)
The filmmakers cited statistics in a MIFF festival note to frame the story: among murders committed in Argentina, just seven percent of those by men are impulsive acts, while 72 percent of those by women are deemed crimes of passion.[2](https://miff.com.au/festival-archive/films/13158/lions-den) Critics placed the film within a wave of prison movies from Brazil and Argentina, distinguishing Trapero's intimate, un-art-directed depiction of messy cells and common spaces from more theatrical treatments.[9](https://www.screendaily.com/lions-den-leonera/4038788.article?storyCode=4038788) *Time Out* described it as part meticulous character study, part hyperrealist drama, as interested in how the institution functions day to day as in the joys and pains of female cohabitation in a confined space.[18](https://www.timeout.com/movies/lions-den-1)
## References
1. [LEONERA, Festival de Cannes](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/leonera/)
2. [Lion's Den, MIFF Festival Archive](https://miff.com.au/festival-archive/films/13158/lions-den)
3. [Lion's Den, TIFF '08 film page](https://www.tiff08.ca/filmsandschedules/films/lionsden/)
4. [Lion's Den, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/leonera)
5. [Pablo Trapero, South China Morning Post (2009)](https://www.scmp.com/article/674166/pablo-trapero)
6. [Lion's Den (Leonera), AFI FEST 2008](https://fest.afi.com/2008/showcase-argentina-2008/lions-den-leonera/)
7. [Lion's Den, Strand Releasing](https://strandreleasing.com/films/lions-den/)
8. [Lion's Den production notes, Strand Releasing press kit (PDF)](https://strandreleasing.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Lions_Den_presskit.pdf)
9. [Lion's Den (Leonera) review, Screen Daily](https://www.screendaily.com/lions-den-leonera/4038788.article?storyCode=4038788)
10. [Compétition : "Leonera" de Pablo Trapero, Festival de Cannes](https://www.festival-cannes.com/2008/competition-leonera-de-pablo-trapero/)
11. [World Cinema Fund booklet, Kulturstiftung des Bundes (PDF)](https://www.kulturstiftung-des-bundes.de/fileadmin/user_upload/content_stage/leuchttuerme/WCF_Booklet_2024.pdf)
12. [Leonera Cannes press materials (PDF)](https://cdn-media.festival-cannes.com/pdf/0001/45/a5a5706fba7bb4cc171f6901d1e2d28d19f7c165.pdf)
13. [LEONERA, Catálogo de Películas ICAA](https://infoicaa.mcu.es/CatalogoICAA/es-es/Peliculas/Detalle?Pelicula=145708)
14. [Attention, chute d'étoiles, Le Monde (2008)](https://www.lemonde.fr/cinema/article/2008/05/15/attention-chute-d-etoiles_5980543_3476.html)
15. [Social realism at its best in Lion's Den, London Evening Standard (2012)](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/social-realism-at-its-best-in-lions-den-7419228.html)
16. [Lion's Den streaming, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/lions-den)
17. [Lion's Den, Frameline33](https://www.frameline.org/films/frameline33/lions-den)
18. [Lion's Den review, Time Out](https://www.timeout.com/movies/lions-den-1)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 2000s › Biographical and historical drama films 2000s › Released 2006 to 2009*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license