24/02/2025 - Michiel Blanchart’s feature debut reigned supreme in all of the categories it was nominated in

The team behind Night Call with their awards (© Content Curation/Magritte du Cinéma 2025)

Night Call [+see also:
film review
interview: Michiel Blanchart
film profile] by Michiel Blanchart has set a new record at the 14th Belgian Magritte Film Awards, unspooling 22 February, by walking away with no fewer than ten trophies. It’s a resounding film industry seal of approval for this movie which already won over Belgian audiences back in autumn upon its cinema release. A high-tension thriller, the film follows an eventful night as experienced by young, black locksmith Mady who finds himself trapped into an infernal spiral while Brussels is rocked by a Black Lives Matter demonstration. It’s both a genre film and a socially engaged movie which convinced voters in all the categories in which it was nominated. The movie scooped Best Film and Best First Film, not to mention Best Screenplay and Best Director for Michiel Blanchart. It also nabbed the 5 technical prizes for which it was vying: Best Cinematography, Best Sound, Best Set Design, Best Costumes and Best Editing. Last but not least, it won Jonas Bloquet the Magritte for Best Supporting Actor.

Acting also proved a strongpoint for Paloma Sermon-Daï’s movie It’s Raining in the House [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Paloma Sermon-Daï
film profile], which was previously unveiled in Cannes’ Critics’ Week where it bagged the French Touch Jury Prize, before later walking away with a Golden Bayard (the director’s second after scooping her first in 2021 via her documentary Petit Samedi [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Paloma Sermon Daï
film profile]) at the Namur Film Festival. Brother and sister in real life as well as on screen, Makenzy and Purdey Lombet earned themselves the Magritte for Best Male and Female Newcomers, while actress Louise Manteau (who also toplined Xavier Seron’s Life’s A Bitch [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Xavier Seron
film profile] this year) bagged the Best Supporting Actress Magritte (after six previous nominations).

And it was the very same acerbic, romantic comedy Life’s A Bitch which won Arieh Worthalter his second Best Actor Magritte in a row, on the heels of the trophy he scooped in 2024 for The Goldman Case [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Cédric Kahn
film profile] – which also earned him a Cesar award. In term of actresses, Lubna Azabal – who likewise holds last year’s title thanks to The Blue Caftan [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - was hailed for her intense performance in Jawad Rhalib’s Amal [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jawad Rhalib
film profile], ultimately walking away with her fourth Best Actress trophy.

Last but not least, equally noteworthy prizes were bestowed upon Samira El Mouzghibati’s (Y)our Mother [+see also:
film review
interview: Samira El Mouzghibati
film profile] (Best Documentary), Leonardo van Dijl’s Julie Keeps Quiet [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Leonardo van Dijl
film profile]  (Best Flemish Film), which was also discovered in Cannes’ Critics’ Week, and Michel Hazanavicius’ The Most Precious of Cargoes [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Michel Hazanavicius
film profile] (Best Foreign Film in Co-Production). The Honorary Magritte went to Gilles Lellouche who shared his pleasure at receiving his first official prize from this particular quarter, and rejoiced over his ties with Belgium where he has often shot his movies, where his works are co-produced by Artemis Production, and where he enjoys a special relationship with Benoît Poelvoorde.

The 14th Magritte Film Awards ceremony was hosted by Charline Vanhoenacker, while the presidency was entrusted to Belgian actress Déborah François.

The winners are as follows:

Best Film
Night Call [+see also:
film review
interview: Michiel Blanchart
film profile] - Michiel Blanchart (Belgium/France)

Best First Film
Night Call - Michiel Blanchart

Best Director
Michiel Blanchart – Night Call

Best Original or Adapted Screenplay
Michiel Blanchart – Night Call

Best Actress
Lubna Azabal - Amal [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jawad Rhalib
film profile] (Belgium)

Best Actor
Arieh Worthalter – Life’s A Bitch [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Xavier Seron
film profile] (Belgium/France)

Best Supporting Actress
Louise Manteau – It’s Raining in the House [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Paloma Sermon-Daï
film profile] (Belgium/France)

Best Supporting Actor
Jonas Bloquet – Night Call

Best Female Newcomer
Purdey Lombet – It’s Raining in the House

Best Male Newcomer
Makenzy Lombet – It’s Raining in the House

Best Cinematography
Sylvestre Vannoorenberghe – Night Call

Best Editing
Mathieu Jamet-Louis – Night Call

Best Sound
David Vranken, David Gillain, Joey Van Impe, Thibaud Rie, Fabrice Grizard, Antoine Wattier, Vincent Gregorio – Night Call

Best Set Design
Catherine Cosme – Night Call

Best Costume Design
Isabel Van Renterghem – Night Call

Best Original Score (jointly awarded)
Charles de Ville, Nelly Tungang - Savages [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Red Carpet @ European Film …
film profile] (Switzerland/France/Belgium)
Frédéric Vercheval - Green Border [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Poland/Czech Republic/France/Belgium)

Best Flemish Film
Julie Keeps Quiet [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Leonardo van Dijl
film profile] - Leonardo van Dijl (Belgium/Sweden)

Best Foreign Film in Co-Production
The Most Precious of Cargoes [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Michel Hazanavicius
film profile] - Stéphan Castang (France/Belgium)

Best Documentary
(Y)our Mother [+see also:
film review
interview: Samira El Mouzghibati
film profile] - Samira El Mouzghibati (Belgium/France)

Best Short Fiction Film
Eldorado - Mathieu Volpe (Belgium)

Best Animated Short Film
En mille pétales - Louise Bogartz (Belgium)

Best Short Documentary Film
Les Vivant·es - Inès Rabadán (Belgium)

Honorary Magritte
Gilles Lellouche

(Translated from French)