Tori and Lokita (2023)
Director: Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne Run Time: 88 min. Rating: NR Release Year: 2022
Starring: Alban Ukaj, Charlotte De Bruyne, Joely Mbundu, Pablo Schils, Tijmen Govaerts
Country: Belgium, France
Language: French, Afrikaans
About the film:
75th Anniversary Prize at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival
The stunning new film from acclaimed filmmakers the Dardenne brothers follows a young boy (Tori) and a teenage girl (Lokita) who have left their home countries of Cameroon and Benin to make a new life in Belgium. On their journey, they navigate a range of difficult and challenging experiences. Whether it be finding jobs on the black market or working to send money back to their families, their friendship provides an unbreakable bond that helps them survive.
“Masterfully crafted and unspeakably heartbreaking.”
—Leslie Felperin, Hollywood Reporter
Hoping to get their papers to remain in the country, they soon find that there are an array of forces stacked against them. They must fight for both their friendship and their lives as their world slowly begins to crumble. Clinging to the hope of a better life, their struggle is a gripping testament to the power of the human spirit and the courage of their relationship.
“[The Dardenne brothers] have honed a brand of observational realism that is all the more dramatically authentic and politically potent because it’s rooted in truth.”
—David Parkinson, Empire Magazine
About the filmmakers:
The Dardenne brothers, Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne, are a Belgian filmmaking duo. They have written, produced, and directed their films together since the late 1970s, and became known for their starkly realistic approach to working-class themes and characters. They have won the highest festival honors at the Cannes Film Festival, including the Palme d’Or twice with Rosetta (1999) and L’enfant (2005), Best Screenplay with Lorna’s Silence (2008), the Grand Jury Prize with The Kid with a Bike (2011), Best Director with Young Ahmed (2019), and the 75th Anniversary Prize with Tori and Lokita (2023). In 2002, Olivier Gourmet won Best Actor at Cannes for the Dardennes’ Le Fils (2002), and Marion Cotillard was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for Two Days, One Night (2014).
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