Close
The intense friendship between two thirteen-year old boys Leo and Remi suddenly gets disrupted. Struggling to understand what has happened, Leo approaches Sophie, Remi's mother. CLOSE is a film about friendship and responsibility.
"CLOSE is a film about connection, friendship and the loss thereof. During my puberty I started to distance myself more and more from my male friends because I was afraid of labels. As a consequence, I missed out on some profound relationships. According to Niobe Way, an American psychologist, there's a crisis of connection connected with masculinity. Boys from a young age are taught to not value the close and fragile connection with other boys and their own emotional worlds as much as they should. In a culture filled with toxic masculine precedents, I wanted to make a film about the loss of tenderness." (Lukas Dhont)
Film Credits
Production country/ies: Belgium, France, The Netherlands
Language/s: French, Dutch
Duration: 108 min.
Directed by: Lukas Dhont
Written by: Lukas Dhont, Angelo Tijssens
Produced by: Michiel Dhont, Michel Saint-Jean, Laurette Schillings, Jacques-Henri Bronckart
Cinematography: Frank van den Eeden
Editing: Alain Dessauvage
Production Design: Eve Martin, Manu Verschueren
Make-Up & Hair: Michelle Beeckman
Original Score: Valentin Hadjadj
Sound: Yanna Soentjens, Vincent Sinceretti, Michel Schöpping
Visual Effects: Laurens Orij
Casting: Sebastian Moradiellos, Oliver Roels
Cast: Eden Dambrine (Leo), Gustav De Waele (Remi), Emilie Dequenne (Sophie)
About the director
Lukas Dhont was born in Ghent, Belgium. He graduated with a diploma in audio-visual arts from the KASK School Of Arts in Ghent. Throughout his studies, he focused on fiction but also explored the possibilities of documentary. In 2016, Lukas Dhont participated in the Cannes Cinéfondation residency with the script for his first feature film, GIRL. This film combines themes the filmmaker had already explored in his short work, including: dance, transformation and identity. Lukas Dhont collaborates regularly with choreographer and dancer Jan Martens with whom he co-signed a performance titled The Common People. In 2018 Lukas’ first feature film, GIRL, was presented at the Cannes festival, in the official selection "Un Certain Regard" and won, among other awards, the Caméra d’Or for Best First Movie. His second feature film CLOSE was selected as part of the Official Competition of the 75th Edition of the Cannes Film festival and won the Grand Prix.
FILMOGRAPHY:
2022 - CLOSE, Feature
2018 - GIRL, Feature
2014 - L'INFINI, Short
2012 - SKIN OF GLASS, Short
2012 - CORPS PERDU, Short