Nuclear Boy + Q&A

Inspired by true events, the Dutch Joren Molter's film follows a lonely 17-year-old, Aike, who finds community online documenting dangerous chemistry experiments. When his efforts to find real connection among a group of scouts fail despite the support of his overwhelmed nurse mother, Aike desperately wants to prove himself and begins the most extreme experiment of his life so far - building a nuclear breeder reactor in his family's shed, egged on by his growing online following. Does this process finally boost his confidence enough to make real friends? And what happens when the most daring experiment of the boy who plays with fire ends with catastrophic consequences?

Q&A with director Joren Molter after the screening.

Transylvania International Film Festival 2026
Brooklyn Film Festival 2026

Joren Molter is a Dutch director whose debut feature film, Summer Brother (2023), based on the novel by Jaap Robben, showed him to be one of the Netherlands' most promising directors. The film was selected as the closing film for the Netherlands Film Festival, nominated for four Golden Calves (the Dutch equivalent of the Academy Awards), and won the Dutch Film Critics' Award. He is the first Dutch director to be selected by European Film Promotion for Future Frames: ten new directors to watch at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival.

Summer Brother (2023)

Original title: Nuclear Boy
Director: Joren Molter
Cast: Guus Blanken, Jelka van Houten
Cinematography: Roy van Egmond
Screenwriter: Britt Snel
Producer: Floor Onrust, Arnold Bruinier
Editor: Emiel Nuninga
Music: Rutger Reinders
Colour: colour
Run Time: 89 mins