Brussels-based brothers Ish Ait Hamou and Monir Ait Hamou are at Connext this week pitching their debut feature as writer-directors, BXL.
Ish is a former dancer, well known to Belgian audiences for his work as a jury member on TV series So You Think You Can Dance. He is also a prolific writer with several novels to his credit. (His first book, love story Hard Heart sold over 30,000 copies when it was published in 2014).
Older brother Mounir is also a writer and has racked up credits as an actor/director on TV series including Champion (2018) and Innocent Belgium (2012).
The brothers are the children of Moroccan immigrants. They grew up in the same household but have different educational backgrounds. Mounir was educated at a French-speaking school in Brussels while Ish, the younger sibling, went to a Flemish-speaking school nearby the factory where his parents worked.
“At some point, they [the authorities] cancelled the school bus,” Ish explains of why he attended the local school. They therefore “grew up in two completely different worlds.”
BXL is produced through Brussels-based production outfit Potemkin. It is semi- autobiographical, portraying two brothers growing up in chaotic circumstances in the Molenbeek area of Brussels, a part of town notorious as a base for jihadists.
“Our film doesn’t deal with terrorism or jihadis but it is about growing up, or at least living, in one of the most frowned upon, marginalised neighbourhoods in Brussels,” Ish explains.
Molenbeek may have fallen out of the headlines but Ish suggests “there are still major issues. You often feel that if things are not in the newspapers, they have disappeared - but they haven’t. There are still communities struggling. There is still conflict. We want to make sure we don’t forget there are still issues which need to be solved and there are still marginalised people whose stories have to be told.”
“Some stories start with a pitch, a plot, but I think this one started more from a gut feeling, something we felt that was bothering us, this kind of discomfort we were feeling when we looked at stories of Brussels and at our own stories,” the writer-director continues.
The filmmakers describe BXL as a “very character-driven and intimate story” about two brothers from the wrong side of the tracks. The older brother works in a factory but has potential as a UFC fighter. He is invited to compete in a tournament in the US. This makes him “a beacon of hope” for his community but he struggles with the responsibility this places on him.
“One of the big themes and questions we wanted to ask with our experience as sons of immigrants, having grown up here, is whether a dream is a gift or a curse,” says Ish of the project. “Some people can’t deal with their dreams being crushed, especially when they are crushed by systematic pressure, racism and discrimination.”
The brothers have already worked out their division of responsibility on set. “I love communicating with the actors. I’m more the guy who goes to the actors while Mounir is more the guy who works closely with the departments,” says Ish. “He is very, very strong with visual aspects.”
BXL is now being financed. Top technicians are already committed to the project among them experienced cinematographer Dries Delputte (who worked on The Misfortunates) and editor Nico Leunen (whose credits include Beautiful Boy and The Broken Circle Breakdown). Paradiso has already come on board as the Benelux distributor.
Dual force
One advantage the brothers have over many other Belgian filmmakers is that they can straddle the divide between Flemish and Wallonian cinema culture.
“If we are able to tap in within these money pockets of the Flemish government and the Brussels government and bring together that money to create a story about Brussels and the mix of communities, thatwould be some sort of victory,” Ish says of the opportunity to secure finance from both sides of the community.
The aim is to shoot in the autumn of 2023. “Everything is set.,” says Ish. “The team is ready. Now, we are at the stage of funding and bringing the money in.”
Ish and Mounir are not the only young Belgian filmmakers from an immigrant background who are building international reputations. Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah had a number one box office hit in the US with Bad Boys For Life in 2020 and were in Cannes earlier this year with their recent feature, Rebel.
They also endured the recent disappointment of seeing their Batgirl film mothballed by Warner Bros.
And, yes, Ish and Mounir know Adil and Bilall well. “Belgium is relatively small and within the cinema world, it is even smaller,” Ish reflects. “What they have done is something very special. It’s not only that they’ve broken through internationally. They also redefined and shaped what Belgian cinema can be.”
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