The Matriarch

17-year-old Kim longs for nothing more than the approval of her emotionally distant mother. Together with her little brother Bao, the two women live in a high-rise apartment on Germany’s Baltic Sea coast, which contains a secret room. Every week, complete strangers come and go from this room—because Kim’s mother runs an illegal smuggling operation, helping people from Vietnam get into Europe, and uses the income to support their extended family back home. The mother wants a better future for her daughter and insists that Kim focus on getting good grades and finishing school with a strong diploma. But Kim has different plans. She wants to work alongside her mother and prove that she’s worthy of becoming her successor one day.

When Luc, her mother’s closest associate, suddenly leaves and opens a rival smuggling agency, Kim sees her chance. She begins to take over Luc’s responsibilities and becomes increasingly involved in the smuggling operation. This shared work begins to draw mother and daughter closer together. At the same time, however, Kim is exposed to the harshness and brutality her mother faces daily in her line of work. Gradually, Kim starts to push her own limits—acting more radically than her nature would normally allow.