Two brothers, Tarek (26) and Fouad (12), unexpectedly get a chance to escape from Molenbeek, but their chances turn faster than expected. In addition to brotherly love and big dreams, brothers Ish and Monir Ait Hamou show in their directorial debut BXL the fierce battle between personal ambitions and social expectations in the heart of Molenbeek, according to Ish "one of the most frowned upon, marginalised neighbourhoods in Brussels".
What if your dreams are bigger than the expectations others have? The debut feature by writer/dancer/filmmaker Ish Ait Hamou and his brother Monir shows two Molenbeek brothers struggling with this. While the older brother gets the chance to pursue his martial arts career in the US and leave behind his life as a factory worker in Brussels for a while, the youngest struggles with the expectations and pressures of those around him. "One of the questions we - children of immigrants - wanted to explore is whether a dream is a gift or a curse", Ish told Screen Daily. "Some cannot deal with destroyed dreams, especially if it comes from systematic pressure, racism and discrimination." BXL is by no means just a personal story of two brothers from Brussels, but also a reflection on how society affects our dream life.
Part of VRT CANVAS Select
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Credits
Monir Ait Hamou, Ish Ait Hamou
Jean-Luc Fafchamps
Fouad Hajji, Yassir Drief, Geert Van Rampelberg, Ruth Becquart, Lauren Versnick, Aimé Claeys
Monir Ait Hamou, Ish Ait Hamou
Maximiliaan Dierickx
Nico Leunen
Peter De Maegd
Potemkino
Paradiso Filmed Entertainment NV
More info
Arabic, Dutch, French
Belgium
2024
