In Wishing on a Star we are invited into the hidden everyday lives of mothers raising their children behind prison walls. Through intimate glimpses of shared meals, bedtime stories, and whispered secrets, we see how love and care persist within confinement. Small gestures of play and dreams of life beyond the fence become acts of quiet resistance. Balancing stark reality with moments of delicate humour and warmth, Kerekes has grown famous for his delicate cinematic language and way of treating his subjects through a participatory style of filmmaking. As with his previous film 107 Mothers, screened at MIRAGE in 2022, he returns to prison life, questioning what freedom truly means when you born behind prison walls. Even when the sky is seen through bars, the stars remain close — a reminder that hope cannot be locked away.
Wishing on a Star was nominated for the Venice Horizon Award.
