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, navigate a range of challenging experiences. Whether finding jobs on the black market or working to send money back to their families, their friendship provides a bond that helps them survive. Hoping to get their papers to remain in the country, they soon find that there are an array of forces stacked against them. 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. 2022, Belgium, 88 minutes, in French with English Subtitles.
Winner of the 75th Anniversary Prize at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, by two-time Palme d’Or winners Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne.
“Tori and Lokita is an almost unbearably tense, lo-fi thriller that carries with it a stern, solemn moral weight. Long into a storied career, the Dardennes are making work as relevant and probing as ever.” – Vanity Fair
“Schils and Mbundu keep the film’s feet firmly on the ground, delivering a hefty emotional punch built in equal measure on empathy, admiration and anguish.” – The Observer
“It’s remarkably assured material, impeccably played and with restless political undercurrents, from two film-makers operating at a seemingly effortless pace.” – Times (UK)
“The Dardennes’ spare style can be mistaken for simplicity. Simple is a strange word for the moral knots of what the children must do to survive… And at the heart of it all is another enduring concern of the brothers: the fate of goodness.” – Financial Times
“It’s another deeply humane parable of life on the margins in Belgium’s hardscrabble suburbs, engaging and heartbreaking in equal measure.” – Time Out
“The Dardennes are too honest to conceal their despair at the state of the world. They also know that the voicing of that despair can be its own small expression of hope.” – Los Angeles Times
“In 88 succinct and effective minutes, it sketches a heartbreaking portrait of young refugees clinging to each other in a Europe that is far from welcoming.” – TheWrap
