Mubi acquired the North American rights to Lucas Dhondt’s Coward at the Cannes Film Festival, making it one of the hottest titles in this year’s competition. This quirky romantic drama earned the longest standing ovation in this year’s competition lineup.
Mubi previously purchased the film for international territories, acquiring all rights to “Coward” for the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand.
It is a sequel to Dhondt’s 2022 hit Close, which was nominated for an Oscar for Best International Feature Film (and was acquired by Mubi in several territories, including the UK, Ireland, Latin America, Turkey, and India). The Belgian filmmaker’s 2018 debut film Girl won the Camera d’Or after premiering in Un Certain Regard, while Close debuted in competition and won the Grand Prix at Cannes before its Oscar release.
Coward is set in the midst of World War I and follows Pierre, a soldier who has just arrived at the front, eager to prove himself. Behind the lines, he meets Francis and decides to lift the spirits of his comrades by organizing a theatrical show. As the violence continues, the two try to find a way to escape, even if only temporarily, from the brutality of war. The film stars Emmanuel Macchia in his first film role as Pierre, and Valentin Campagne (Colors of Time, Case 137) as Francis.
Coward reunites Dont with many of the creators who worked on his previous features Girl and Close, including co-writer Angelo Thyssens, producer Michel Dont, cinematographer Frank van den Eeden, production designer Yves Martin, music by Valentin Hadjaj, editor Alain Desauvage, and sound by Janna Soentjens. “Coward” is a production by Reunion, Lumen, Topkapi Films & Versus (Opus) in collaboration with France 2 Cinéma, VTM, RTBF, Proximus, BeTV and Orange. The film is distributed in Benelux by Lumière and in France by Diafana Distribution. Match Factory handles overseas sales.
Mubi is in Cannes with a string of films, including “Minotaur,” “Fatherland,” “Hope,” and “Teen Sex and Death at Camp Miasma.”
