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Lukas Dhont
Lukas Dhont
	Dhont in European Parliament LUX Audience Award 2023, Brussels
Born	11 June 1991 (age 33); Ghent, Belgium
Occupations	Director; screenwriter;
Years active	2012–present
Awards	Full list

Lukas Dhont (Dutch: [ˈlukɑz ˈdɔnt];^[2] born 11 June 1991)^[1] is a Belgian film director and screenwriter. His debut feature film, Girl, premiered at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Caméra d'Or and the Queer Palm awards. He was featured in Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe list in 2019. His second feature film, Close, premiered at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, where he shared the Grand Prix with Claire Denis' Stars At Noon. In 2023, Close was nominated for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film representing Belgium.

Early life

Dhont was born in Ghent, Belgium.^[3] He attended a Catholic high school.^[4] As a teenager, Dhont worked as a costume design assistant on film and television sets.^[5]

His mother is a fashion teacher at an art school.^[5] He has a younger brother, Michiel,^[6] who is two years younger^[7] and works as a producer.^[8] Dhont and Michiel both identify as gay.^[4]^[7]

Career

He made his feature-length debut in 2018 with Girl, a drama film inspired by the story of Nora Monsecour which focuses on a trans girl pursuing a career as a ballerina. Girl premiered at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Caméra d'Or award for Best First Feature Film, as well as the Queer Palm.^[9] It received the André Cavens Award for Best Film given by the Belgian Film Critics Association and was selected as the Belgian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 91st Academy Awards.^[10]^[11] It received nine nominations at the 9th Magritte Awards and won four, including Best Flemish Film and Best Screenplay for Dhont.^[12]

In 2019, Dhont was featured in Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe list.^[13]

Dhont's second feature, Close, starring Émilie Dequenne and Léa Drucker, premiered in competition at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, where he shared the Grand Prix with Claire Denis' Stars At Noon.^[14] It also won the Sydney Film Prize at the 69th Sydney Film Festival in June 2022.^[15] The film is based on his own experiences at school, and tells the story of a friendship between two boys in their early teens.^[16] In 2023, the film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards.^[17]

In June 2023, Dhont was invited to become a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.^[18] In 2024, Dhont presided over the Queer Palm jury for the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.^[19]^[20]

Filmography

Year	Title	Credited as				Notes	Ref.
Year	Title	Director	Screenwriter	Cinematographer	Producer	Notes	Ref.
2012	Headlong	Yes	Yes	No	No	Short film
	De Lucht in mijn Keel	No	Yes	No	No	Short film
	Skin of Glass	Yes	No	Yes	No	Short film
2014	L'Infini	Yes	Yes	No	No	Short film
2018	Girl	Yes	Yes	No	No
2021	Our Nature	Yes	Yes	No	No	Short film
2022	Close	Yes	Yes	No	No
2023	Gun	No	No	No	Yes	Short film	^[21]
TBA	Coward	Yes	Yes	TBA	TBA		^[22]