Film

TORI AND LOKITA

Two African-born teens try to build a life together on the streets of Belgium in this scalding indictment of societal indifference by the Dardenne brothers. Winner of the Anniversary Prize at Cannes, the story hinges on parentless children whose need for support leads them towards danger. Tori has been granted political asylum for a horrifying reason, but Lokita will be deported if she fails to convince the authorities that she and Tori are blood relatives. And they may not be.
They live together in the same shelter for “unaccompanied foreign minors,” they deliver drugs together for the same drug dealer, and they give most of the money they make to the same smuggler who helped them get to Belgium in the first place. Every iota of information we learn about Tori and Lokita’s individual and shared pasts only makes it more poignant and damning that these two kids have to love each other this much just to survive in a society that doesn’t care about them.