The Match Factory has unveiled a first look at Coward, the new feature from Lukas Dhont, ahead of its world premiere in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival this May.

Coward marks Dhont’s third selection for the festival, following the international acclaim of his Camera d’Or winner Girl and Grand Prix-winning Close. The film reunites the director with longtime co-writer Angelo Tijssens and is produced by Michiel Dhont. It is the first of the filmmaker’s features to be produced under the Reunion, the production banner founded by the Dhont brothers.

On the occasion of his return to the Croisette, Lukas Dhont commented: “I am deeply honored to once again take part in the competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Coward is the work of many and my most ambitious project yet. A film about love and death, creation and destruction. A film about survival and how, sometimes, even in darkness, something beautiful manages to grow. Coward is a tribute to those who, throughout the centuries, were sent to fight—and those who tried to escape it at any cost”.

Logline:
Pierre, a young Belgian soldier, 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.

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. The Match Factory is handling international sales.