Têtes Brûlées by Maja-Ajmia Yde Zellama was unveiled in a world premiere within the Generation 14plus section of the 75th Berlinale, where the film won a Special Jury Mention. A graduate of the LUCA School of Art, and a film director as well as a casting director, Maja-Ajmia Yde Zellama launched herself into the adventure of this first feature film following an encounter with filmmaker Nabil Ben Yadir, who encouraged her to delve deeper into this distinctive story after he was won over by the short film she’d previously dedicated to the subject.
Têtes Brûlées paints the portrait of Eya (Safa Gharbaoui), a 12-year-old girl who’s growing up within a Brussels-based family of Tunisian origin and who’s pampered by her loved ones, especially by her big brother Younès (Mehdi Bouziane) with whom she’s very close. He walks her to college, he encourages her to do her homework and he’s kind enough to share his everyday life with her, to the point Eva has become a real mascot for his friendship group, who look out for her as if she were their own little sister, who enthuse over her TikTok dances and who help her write her Dutch school reports. This set-up makes clear the strength of the love binding Eya to her brother and allows us to share in the joy and jubilation of Eya’s existence, which still has the taste and carefree character of childhood… Until it all implodes. One happy evening, at the end of a football match between Morocco and France, Younès falls to the ground, the victim of an accident, a bullet which wasn’t intended for him.
Sat in the back of the car driven by her brother’s friends, Eya cries in silence… Thus begins the lengthy process of grief for this little girl and all those around her. The funeral unfurls amidst great solidarity. The young filmmaker takes the time to depict this fragile moment, where life marches on, in spite of death. In Eva’s suddenly overpopulated home, where family and loved ones, neighbours and members of the community offer their support to Younès’ grief-stricken parents, brother and sisters, religion wields a consolatory power, much like music and Eya’s dances; not least in one magnificent scene where religious songs, in all their beauty and solemnity, are given their full and proper place.
Têtes Brûlées is a film of few words but many gestures: of hands reaching out and arms which embrace and console. By focusing on Eya and by conveying her childlike energy in a world of grown-ups, at a time which tends to belong to adults, Maja-Ajmia Yde Zellama captures the strength and fragility of moments such as these, when life gets back on track, in spite of grief. In the space of a few days, Eya takes the path of resilience. It’s not a precocious coming-of-age tale, leading Eya towards adolescence or adulthood, that the director is offering up here, but rather the story of a childhood which has been rocked, in which our protagonist withstands the pain of loss by using the weapons in her reach: sincerity and an ability to look for joy where it can be found, to turn beautiful memories into strength, and to unleash her creativity. And, ultimately, to experience this grief as a sadness forever anchored in her young heart, but also, by necessity, as a transformative process.
Têtes Brûlées was produced by Komoko (Belgium), a production company expressly created for this project, in co-production with Quetzalcoatl (Belgium) and 10:80 Films (Belgium). World sales are entrusted to MAD World (UAE).
Source: by Aurore Engelen for Cineuropa
