‘Harsh Reality’ of Vulnerable Young Women Handled With ‘Humor and Tenderness’ in ‘The Eels’ Dilemma’

Madrid’s Ecam Incubator has built a reputation for surfacing standout new talent. Among this year’s projects, documentary filmmaker Elena Molina makes her first move into fiction with “The Eels’ Dilemma” (El dilema de las anguilas), a Barcelona-set coming-of-age drama exploring how young women leaving institutional care confront questions of belonging, fragility and the pull of destructive ideologies.

The story follows Ghizlane, 18, who moves into a supervised apartment for ex-sheltered girls. For the first time, she has privacy, independence and the chance to forge a new life. But her roommates—Saba, Dolors and Flor—come from radically different backgrounds, and their precarious position means any mistake could cost them their place in the apartment. While they struggle to form a surrogate family, cracks appear. For some, the absence of emotional support fuels frustration, jealousy and the dangerous appeal of extremist rhetoric.

“These young people live without a margin of error,…