''Tori and Lokita'' (french: Tori et Lokita), is a 2022 Belgian-French

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

film written, directed and produced by

Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne Brothers Jean-Pierre Dardenne (; born 21 April 1951) and Luc Dardenne (born 10 March 1954), collectively referred to as the Dardenne brothers, are a Belgian filmmaking duo. They write, produce, and direct their films together. The Dardennes ...

. The film premiered at the

2022 Cannes Film Festival The 75th annual Cannes Film Festival is an upcoming film festival scheduled to take place from 17 to 28 May 2022. The festival will see a tribute to actor Tom Cruise, whose film '' Top Gun: Maverick'' is due to premiere at the festival. The off ...

on 24 May 2022, where it competed for the

Palme d'Or The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...

and won the festival's special 75th Anniversary Award.

Plot

A tale of friendship between two youngsters from Africa that find themselves contending with the cruel conditions of their life in Belgium.

Cast

* Pablo Schils as Tori * Mbundu Joely as Lokita * Charlotte De Bruyne as Margot * Tijmen Govaerts as Luckas *

Alban Ukaj Alban Ukaj (born in Pristina, 21 July 1980) is a Kosovo-Albanian actor. He attended the Academy of Performing Arts in Sarajevo. He is notable for his role in the film ''Lorna's Silence'' and his lead role in the Greek film '' J.A.C.E''. He also ap ...

as Betim *

Marc Zinga Marc Zinga (born 21 October 1984) is a Congolese-Belgian actor, singer and filmmaker. Born in Likasi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zinga moved to Belgium with his family at the age of five. He was one of the lead singers of the group ''The ...

as Firmin

Reception

''Tori and Lokita'' received generally positive reviews from critics.

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

gives the film a score of 89% based on 45 reviews, with a weighted average of 7.10/10. The site's critical consensus states: "Another humanistic gem from the Dardennes, Tori and Lokita puts its characters in heartbreaking circumstances while insisting on their intrinsic dignity."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

gave the film a rating of 75/100, based on 13 reviews, indicating generally favorable reviews.

Release

''Tori and Lokita'' was the closing film of the 46th

Hong Kong International Film Festival The Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF), is one of Asia’s oldest international film festivals. Founded in 1976, the festival features different movies, filmmakers from different countries in Hong Kong. HKIFF screens around 230 films ...

, where it was screened on 31 August 2022. The film was released in theaters in Belgium on 7 September 2022 by Cinéart, and in France on 5 October 2022 by Diaphana Distribution. In June 2022, Sideshow and

Janus Films Janus Films is an American film distribution company. The distributor is credited with introducing numerous films, now considered masterpieces of world cinema, to American audiences, including the films of Michelangelo Antonioni, Sergei Eisenstein ...

acquired North American distribution rights for the film.

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* 2022 drama films 2022 films Belgian drama films French drama films 2020s French films Films directed by the Dardenne brothers Films set in Belgium Films shot in Belgium 2020s French-language films 2022 independent films Films about social issues Films about refugees Films about friendship Films about immigration Films about immigration to Europe {{Belgium-film-stub