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Ji.hlava New Visions Award Winner Karim Akalay Mixes Magic With ‘Anti-Social Realism’ in ‘6TM’: ‘It’s About Collective Strength Rather Than One Hero’
Karim Akalay’s “6TM” won Ji.hlava Documentary Film Festival’s New Visions Award for the most promising European project. The film aims to portray life at Brussels’ Cité Modèle housing estate through humour and magic realism, showing how residents respond creatively to everyday problems and drawing attention to a community rarely seen on screen outside dramas.
Set during a heatwave, its three linked stories follow children trying to help a wheelchair-using friend affected by broken lifts, a teenager forming a football team, and a mother investigating who stole the rain. Akalay, who grew up on the estate, calls the approach “anti-social realism”: real social pressures are met with joyful, imaginative solutions. The project is in development, with filming planned for July 2027.
In short
- “6TM” won Ji.hlava’s award for a promising European project.
- The film follows three generations at a Brussels housing estate.
- Filming is planned for July 2027.
Explained simply
Cité Modèle is a large housing estate in Brussels, and filmmaker Karim Akalay grew up there. The project follows residents facing everyday challenges during a heatwave, including unreliable lifts and a lack of rain.
Its linked stories focus on children, a teenager and a mother, using humour and magic realism to show how people respond together. The film is planned as a portrait of a community that is rarely shown on screen beyond dramatic stories about social problems.
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