Gods of Molenbeek

Showings

Scotiabank Theatre 13 Thu, May 2, 2019 8:45 PM
TIFF Lightbox 4 Sat, May 4, 2019 6:00 PM
Film Info
Runtime:73
Copyright:2019
Country Listing:Finland
Premiere Status:North American Premiere
Rating:PG
Festival Info
Festival Year:2019
Language:French
Finnish
Arabic
Spanish
Accessibility:Full Subtitles
Program Category:World Showcase
Film Subjects:Children & Youth
Immigration, Multiculturalism & Refugees
Religion & Spirituality
Western & Central Europe
Cast/Crew Info
Director(s):Reetta Huhtanen
Producer(s):Hannu-Pekka Vitikainen
Hanne Phlypo
Alex Tondowski
Editor(s):Jamin Benazzouz
Writer(s):Reetta Huhtanen
Cinematography:Hannu-Pekka Vitikainen
Composer:Tuomas Nikkinen
Cassis B. Staudt
Sound:Senjan Jansen

Description

Growing up in the Molenbeek district of Brussels amidst suicide bombings and police patrols, six-year-old friends Aatos and Amine ponder the big existential questions that have occupied thinkers and theologians since the beginning of time. Is there a higher power? Is nature a god? Aatos wants a god of his own, just as Amine has Allah, but the question becomes complicated when his friend Flo expresses her belief that "people who believe in God have become crazy…crazy because they believed God existed and he doesn't." With refreshing clarity, the kids strip spirituality down to its basic principles and question knowledge itself. When does playing God shift from peering through paper periscopes and dressing up as Hellenic heroes into armed conflict and violence? The way these children make sense of the senseless and reflect their surroundings via make-believe stands to teach adults a great deal about how and when humans become separated from their humanity. Angie Driscoll

World Showcase program sponsored by Delta Air Lines.