Coward by Lukas Dhont in running for Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival
The new film by Belgian director Lukas Dhont, Coward, has been selected for the prestigious Palme d’Or competition at the Cannes Film Festival.
Dhont's previous films, Girl and Close were also honoured by the festival. Girl, his 2018 debut, won several awards, including Best First Film and Best Actor for Victor Polster. Close won the Grand Prix du Jury in 2022.
Notre Salut by Emmanuel Marre is also in the running for the Palme d’Or. The film is a Belgian production directed by a filmmaker who lives and works in Brussels.
Both films explore the theme of war: Coward is set during the First World War, while Notre Salut is set during the Vichy regime in the Second World War.
Love and death
“I am extremely honoured to be able to take part in the competition once again,” Dhont said in a press release from the Flemish Audiovisual Fund. “Coward is the work of many and my most ambitious film to date."
He described the movie as “a film about love and death, construction and destruction. A film about survival and how, sometimes, even in the darkness, something beautiful manages to grow”.
"Coward is the work of many and my most ambitious film to date"
Coward centres on the story of Pierre, a young Belgian soldier during the First World War who wants to prove himself. At the front, he meets Francis, who has been tasked with finding a way to boost morale. The film is set to be released in Belgian cinemas this autumn.
“Lukas Dhont returns with this film, which depicts the First World War in a style inspired by the colour photographs of the era, produced using the autochrome process,” said Thierry Frémaux, the festival’s director. “Lukas is a great director. It is a film of pure cinema that exists, very often, solely through the grace of the direction and the camera.”
The festival takes place from 13-24 May.
#FlandersNewsService | Lukas Dhont at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2025 © PHOTO NICOLAS GENIN / ABACAPRESS.COM
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