We are beyond proud to announce that Emmanuel Macchia and Valentin Campagne, the lead actors of Lukas Dhont’s COWARD, have won the Best Actor award at the 79th Cannes Film Festival.
The award was presented on Saturday evening, crowning a remarkable week at the festival for the film. Earlier, director Lukas Dhont had already received the Prix du Cinéma Positif.
For 20-year-old Belgian Macchia and 22-year-old French actor Campagne, COWARD marks their first major film role.
Lukas Dhont’s third feature film tells the story of Pierre, a young Belgian soldier, who wants to prove himself on the battlefield during the First World War. Behind the frontlines, he meets Francis, who is asked to find a way to boost morale.
The film was written by Lukas Dhont and Angelo Tijssens, and produced by Michiel Dhont.
COWARD is a production by the Reunion, Lumen, Topkapi Films & Versus (Opus) in co-production with Cine+ OCS, France 2 Cinéma, VTM, RTBF, Proximus, BeTV & Orange. The film was produced in association with The Common Humanity Art Trust and Portobello Productions. The film was made with the support of the Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF) of the Flemish Government, the Screen Flanders economic fund, Screen Brussels, the Wallonia-Brussels Federation (FWB), Wallimage, CNC, PICTANOVO Hauts-de-France, Sacem, the Netherlands Film Fund, the Netherlands Film Production Incentive and EURIMAGES, and with the help of the Tax Shelter Measure of the Belgian Federal Government, Casa Kafka & Lumière Invest.
In the Benelux, the film is distributed by Lumière and in France by Diaphana Distribution. MUBI has acquired the rights for the US, UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Latin America, New Zealand and several other territories.