Leila, 64 years old, teacher in Herat, Afghanistan, dancer, transgender. The filmmaker meets Leila a few months before the Taliban retake Afghanistan. Leila navigates between safe space and public places. Between joy and friends, between fellow human beings who do not accept her: Men do not embrace her because they see her as »inferior« because of her femininity, and women do not accept her in their communities because they do not see her as a woman. »What did we do wrong to deserve this?« asks Leila.

An engaging journey through Gambia, Finland, and Italy, following the story of Essa, a former UN soldier and refugee, and his struggle to achieve well-being for himself and his loved ones. The film explores how the protagonist successfully established a business in Europe to financially help his village in Africa: Bureng. However, the outbreak of the Coronavirus gravely challenges Essa’s privileged position and his family's stability, leading him to one of the most serious crises of his life.
"The Strong Man of Bureng" is both a contemporary odyssey and an intimate story of the deep motivations that have brought a person to leave his own country in an effort to satisfy universal needs.