The first look photo for Lucas Dhont’s Coward, the Belgian director’s latest feature headed to Cannes in competition, was released by The Match Factory on Thursday.
“I am extremely honored to once again participate in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Coward It’s the work of many people and is my most ambitious project to date. A film about love and death, creation and destruction. A film about survival and how, sometimes, even in the darkness, something beautiful manages to grow. Coward It is a tribute to those who were sent to fight for centuries – and who tried to avoid it at all costs,” Dhont said in a statement upon news of his return to Cannes.
The first photo of the World War I drama (shown above) shows Pierre, a young Belgian soldier, struggling with cowardice and heroism on the battlefield. According to the producers’ synopsis, behind the frontlines, Pierre meets Francis, who is asked to find a way to boost morale.
After delivering back-to-back Cannes darlings with a Camera d’Or winner Girl (2018) and Grand Prix-winner to close (2022), Dhont returns to Cannes with his third feature and his first period piece. Coward The director is reunited with longtime co-writer Angelo Tijssens and produced by Michael Dhont under the Reunion banner founded by the Dhont brothers.
Coward Cine+ is also produced by Lumen, Topkapi Films and Versus (Opus) as part of a co-production with OCS, France 2 Cinéma, VTM, RTBF, Proximus, BTV and Orange. In Benelux, the film is distributed by Lumière and in France by Diafana Distribution.
Match Factory is handling international sales.
