Someone has to pay the hospital bill after a fall from the titular topiary sidelines Coumba’s (Dior Ka) older brother. Their father not only deems her time better spent doing her brother’s work than in a classroom, but also (in order to raise quick cash) arranges to marry off Coumba’s 11-year-old sister. Not wanting the villagers to view education as a roadblock to enlightenment, Coumba refuses to follow her teacher’s advice that she turn the matter (and her parents) over to the authorities before venturing into the big city to find work. The world Teicher presents is as foreign and remote to many of us as any galaxy far, far away, but the fight to save someone you love is universal. Coumba’s tale of heartbreak, delicately portrayed in plainspoken, unsentimental tones by a cast of nonprofessionals, packs an emotional wallop. (2012) — Scott Marks
This movie is not currently in theaters.