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Ten Kilos, One Reckoning

How Sharon Yitzhaki turned a Bolivian prison sentence into a bestselling story of survival — now streaming September 29

By Ben NelsonPublished 16 days ago • 3 min read
Sharon Yitzhaki

After a rolling theatrical run that touched down in New York, Los Angeles, Fort Lauderdale, New Orleans, and several cities across the Midwest, 10 Kilos — the true-crime survival thriller based on Sharon Yitzhaki's bestselling memoir — arrives on all major digital platforms September 29 via Breaking Glass Pictures.

Directed by Doron Eran (Melting Away, Stay Forte) and a heavily featured title at the Cannes Marché du Film, 10 Kilos dramatizes one of the more astonishing true stories to hit screens this year. At 20 years old, Sharon Yitzhaki traveled to Bolivia and was arrested at the La Paz airport with ten kilos of cocaine strapped to her body. The charge landed her in Miraflores prison, one of the most notorious women's facilities in the world, where she would spend nearly five years navigating violence, addiction, corruption, and cartel politics just to survive.

A scene from 10 Kilos.

Daniella Kertesz (World War Z, Shtisel) leads the film in what critics are calling a career-defining performance, finding what one reviewer described as a perfect balance between Sharon's toughness and her desperation while never losing the audience's sympathy. Inside Miraflores, Sharon builds an unlikely found family — including a young orphan she takes under her wing and Terry, a transgender inmate who becomes her protector and closest confidante. The bond between the two women sits at the emotional core of the film, a rare thread of tenderness inside a story otherwise defined by survival and control. As Sharon adapts to the prison's unwritten rules, she doesn't just endure the system — she rises within it, shedding her old identity to become a power player in a world run by cartel loyalties and brutal hierarchy.

"10 Kilos is not simply a crime film," Eran said. "For me, it was important to tell the story from an intimate human perspective. At its core, this is a film about survival, manipulation, fear, and the emotional cost of being trapped inside a world that keeps pulling you deeper. We wanted audiences to feel every moment with her."

A scene from 10 Kilos.

That intimacy extended to production itself. Kertesz has spoken about the surreal experience of meeting Yitzhaki on set for the first time — on a day the cast had just filmed scenes depicting abuse and drug withdrawal. "It's unsettling to portray someone while she is standing there watching you play her," Kertesz recalled, adding that the two went outside afterward, talked, and hugged, with Yitzhaki offering nothing but encouragement for the performance built around her own life.

The film's theatrical rollout included a gala premiere at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, alongside engagements at Village East Theatre in New York, Savour Cinema in Fort Lauderdale, multiple Laemmle and Lumiere locations in Los Angeles, Zeitgeist Theater & Lounge in New Orleans, and a string of Emagine theaters across Indiana, Michigan, and Minnesota. Now, with its digital debut, 10 Kilos becomes available to a national audience for the first time.

10 Kilos is produced by Doron Eran and Danny Moses, with executive producers Gabrielle Smith Almagor and Tomer Almagor of Urban Tales Productions, alongside Eyal Kanitz, Eitan Kohali, Ron Zuckerman, Wendy Garcia, Yagel Kanitz, Ohad Elkabetz, Amit Amram, Shani Schwariz, Eran & Sheffy Basan, and Juan Friedman. The film comes from CinemaJet, the international production company founded by Eran, in association with Urban Tales Productions and Penny Lane Productions.

"Doron Eran has crafted a gripping and emotionally charged thriller that feels authentic, cinematic, and deeply human," said Rich Wolff, CEO of Breaking Glass Pictures. "Daniella Kertesz delivers an unforgettable performance, and we're thrilled to bring 10 Kilos to audiences across North America this fall."

10 Kilos is available on all major digital platforms beginning September 29.

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    Written by Ben Nelson