In Têtes brûlées, Maja-Ajmia Yde Zellama follows twelve-year-old Eya as she tries to make sense of what has happened following the unexpected death of her older brother, Younès. What begins as a warm and playful portrayal of the special bond between brother and sister changes abruptly when Younès is killed by a stray bullet. The circumstances of his death remain largely in the background. Zellama does not focus on the violence itself, but on the void it leaves behind. 

Through the silences, gestures, touches and songs, a portrait of grief emerges that is both personal and collective. With remarkable sensitivity, Zellama portrays a Brussels community that is rarely shown in this way: not as a backdrop to violence or social problems, but as a place of friendship, family, faith and care. Têtes brûlées is a tender and intimate film about loss, but also about the ways in which people hold on to one another when words fail.