Recommended ages 10+
Ama and her best friend Thijs have their hearts set on the upcoming swimming championships. Born on the boat from Senegal to Europe, Ama knows to be careful about her asylum-seeking family’s status, but she doesn’t think much of it. Until one day her family’s home is raided by the police, and Ama’s mother and brother are detained. Lost in the city she thought she knew, the Ama wanders throughout Rotterdam searching for her father when a giant porcupine, a totem animal rooted in Senegalese tradition, appears to point her in the right direction. As the threat of deportation closes in, for the first time Ama is forced to explore her identity as Senegalese and find the strengths she didn’t know she had. A magical family drama, Totem embraces the complexity of having multiple homelands and the power of spirit and friendship to change the world: Audience Award, Best Children’s Film, Cinekid. –Deborah Girdwood
Director Biography
