Gods of Molenbeek

Synopsis

The district of Molenbeek in Brussels has reputation in media as a center of jihadism, but for six-year-old Aatos and his friend Amine, it is a familiar home. Here, they listen to spiders, discover black holes, and fight about what is going to steer a flying carpet. Together they search for the answers to life’s big questions. But the brutality of the adult world makes itself known when terrorists detonate a bomb in the neighborhood. Aatos envies Amine’s Muslim faith and looks for his own gods, although his classmate Flo questions him; she is strongly convinced that anyone who believes in God has gone crazy. Gods of Molenbeek is a wonderful portrayal of childhood friendship, inquiry and the creation of meaning in a chaotic time.

Director Biography

Reetta Huhtanen is a filmmaker based in Helsinki. She has graduated with a Master of Arts from the ELO Film School Finland in Aalto University majoring in documentary film directing. Beside her film studies she has graduated as BA in Sociology and Philosophy. Currently along with film making she is a doctoral student at Aalto University. Her films, The Coffee Break, about three eternal students, and Economic Forecasters, an absurdist look into the inscrutable world of economics, have been widely exhibited at international film festivals. "Gods of Molenbeek”, a Finnish-Belgian-German co-production is her feature documentary debut.