Ethiopia. 9-year-old Ephraïm lives alone with his father after his mother dies in the famine. His best friend is Chuni, a lamb, with whom he shares his dreams and his adventures. To save his son from the drought, he father sends him away to relatives in a better part of the country. But Ephraïm is more interested in cooking than working in the fields and is an outsider in his uncle’s home. When the uncle announces that Chuni is to be sacrificed for an upcoming celebration, Ephraïm comes up with a plan to save her …

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Almost 40 years after Hailé Gerima’s Harvest: 3,000 Years, which opened to great success in 1976, and a few months after the very beautiful Difret by Zeresenay Mehari, Lamb, the debut by Yared Zeleke, offers another look at the cinema of a country known more for tragic images in the news. The story of Lamb is like a fable, filmed from the point of view of the child and set in the volcanic landscape of Ethiopia’s north-east. The director avoids melodramatic clichés, refusing to revel in misery in favor of portraying the dreams of the boy, played by Rediat Amare. Seemingly as sweet as its main character at first, Lamb is a gripping portrait of a country smothered by its traditions and held hostage by nature. Yared Zeleke has undeniable talent, which got him and his movie into the official selection at Cannes for Un Certain Regard.