Cannes Best ActorLGBTQ+Coming of AgeMusic/DanceHistory/War
In 1916, during World War I, Pierre (Emmanuel Macchia), a young soldier from a rural background, is newly deployed to the front. Unlike his eager, spirited early days, he grows increasingly haunted by trauma as he faces the sheer horror of war. Wounded and transferred to a rear supply unit, Pierre grows close to Francis (Valentin Campagne) of a performance troupe, and affection slowly takes root between them. Where director Lukas Dhont’s Close portrayed a boy who suppressed his identity under social norms, Coward observes the bond between two soldiers set against a battlefield that demands the most extreme masculinity. It is only within the extraordinary spaces of war and the stage that Pierre and Francis can, paradoxically, express their love. Through its characters, the film repeatedly asks whether performing violence is the only true form of courage, and whether it is right to brand those who refuse to do so as cowards. Through Pierre and Francis, the meaning of courage the film offers never settles into a single answer.
Lukas Dhont was born in Ghent, Belgium in 1991 and studied Audio-Visual Arts at the KASK Royal Academy of Fine Arts, winning several awards for his shorts Lost Body (2012)and L′Infini (2014). His feature debut, Girl (2018), was invited to Cannes′ Un Certain Regard, where it won both the Caméra d′Or for Best First Feature and the Queer Palm, and went on to screen at major festivals including San Sebastián (where it won the European Audience Award), Toronto, and the Césars, establishing him as a rising directorial talent. His second feature, Close (2022), reached the peak of his career, winning the Grand Prix in the main competition at Cannes and earning an Oscar nomination for Best International Feature Film. His third feature, Coward, was invited to the main competition at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, where lead actors Emmanuel Machia and Valentin Campagne shared the Best Actor award. From his debut to his latest work, Dhont has delicately portrayed queer identity and the intimate emotions of youth, establishing himself, still in his thirties, as one of the leading directors in European cinema.
From Busan International Film Festival 2026, No. 31
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