The latest from two-time Palme d’Or-winners the Dardenne Brothers (The Kid With a Bike) follows the naive but steadfast 13-year-old Ahmed (played by remarkable newcomer Idir Ben Addi), who has come under the grips of jihadism in small-town Belgium. Torn between the influence of a charismatic militant imam, his progressive school teacher, and his secular single mother, he winds up carrying out an act of violence that lands him in a juvenile detention facility. Told with the filmmakers’ characteristic empathy, unsparing tension, and observant, documentary-style camerawork, this gripping and provocative thriller examines one boy’s fraught psychological space between independence and indoctrination. Young Ahmed has a shot at a second chance, whether or not he decides to take it is another matter. A Kino Lorber release

In French and Arabic with English subtitles

Official Selection: Cannes Film Festival, New York Film Festival

Best Director, Cannes Film Festival; César nominee, Best Foreign Film