The 40th Namur Film Festival’s Bayard d’Or goes to We Believe You
- Arnaud Dufeys and Charlotte Devillers’ movie also scooped the Best Acting Performance Prize for Myriem Akheddiou, while Pauline Loquès’ Nino bagged three trophies
The winners of the 40th edition of the Namur International Film Festival were announced on Wednesday 8 October, spearheaded by Arnaud Dufeys and Charlotte Devillers’ first feature film, We Believe You [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Arnaud Dufeys and Charlotte…
film profile]. Presented back in February within the Berlinale’s Perspectives section where it nabbed a Special Mention, the movie has been racking up festival screenings and awards ever since. Yesterday’s result was particularly special as it was the film’s first screening in its home-country of Belgium. Brilliant Belgian actress Myriem Akheddiou (currently toplining Pierre Schoeller’s The Rembrandt Syndrome [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pierre Schoeller
film profile] and soon to be seen in Nathan Ambrosioni’s Out of Love [+see also:
film review
interview: Nathan Ambrosioni
film profile]) also triumphed thanks to her striking performance in the film, where she plays a mother who clashes with the legal system while she’s trying to protect her children from their father’s incestuous behaviour. Unfolding like a thriller, We Believe You follows the family unit during a family court hearing, where listening seems to be just as crucial as speaking. The film will be released in Belgium and France on 12 November.
The other big winner in Namur was Pauline Loquès’s Nino [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pauline Loquès
film profile], which was discovered in Cannes’ Critics’ Week where it earned Théodore Pellerin Best Actor. Nino scooped the Bayard for Best First Film, awarded by the Critics’ Jury (which also bestowed a Mention upon Vasilis Kekatos’ Our Wildest Days [+see also:
interview: Vasilis Kekatos
film profile]), as well as the Bayard for Best Screenplay and the BeTV Prize. Released in France on 17 September, where it’s currently doing very well for itself, the film will find its way onto Belgian screens on 15 October.
It’s worth noting that the Special Jury Bayard went to another movie presented this year in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section, Aisha Can’t Fly Away [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Morad Mostafa
film profile], which is directed by Egypt’s Morad Mostafa, while Best Cinematography was awarded to Sylvain Verdet and Joachim Philippe for Imago [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Déni Oumar Pitsaev
film profile] by Déni Oumar Pitsaev, first discovered in Critics’ Week.
The Feature Film Jury, composed of Eléonore Yameogo, Stéphane Lafleur, Amélie Bonnin and Juliette Tresanini, and presided over by Lotfi Achour, awarded the Agnès Prize to Dany Kouyaté’s La Danse des Scorpions and a Special Mention for Best Acting Performance to the young French talent Samuel Kircher by way of Wild Foxes [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Valéry Carnoy
film profile]. This debut feature film by Belgian director Valéry Carnoy - which previously won two prizes in the Directors’ Fortnight where it was presented back in May - also bagged the Junior Jury Prize, which can only bode well for its reception among young audiences when it’s released in March 2026.
Last but not least, the Audience Award was won by Marie-Hélène Roux’s Muganga [+see also:
film review
film profile].
The winners are as follows:
Bayard d’Or for Best Film
We Believe You [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Arnaud Dufeys and Charlotte…
film profile] - Arnaud Dufeys and Charlotte Devillers (Belgium)
Bayard for Best Screenplay
Nino [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pauline Loquès
film profile] - Pauline Loquès (France)
Bayard for Best Acting Performance
Myriem Akheddiou – We Believe You
Special Mention
Samuel Kircher – Wild Foxes [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Valéry Carnoy
film profile] (Belgium/France)
Bayard for Best Cinematography
Sylvain Verdet and Joachim Philippe - Imago [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Déni Oumar Pitsaev
film profile] (France/Belgium)
Special Jury Bayard
Aisha Can’t Fly Away [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Morad Mostafa
film profile] - Morad Mostafa (Egypt/Sudan/Tunisia/France)
Agnès Prize
Katanga, la Danse des Scorpions - Dany Kouyaté (Burkina Faso)
Bayard for Best First Film
Nino - Pauline Loquès
Special Mention
Our Wildest Days [+see also:
interview: Vasilis Kekatos
film profile] - Vasilis Kekatos (Greece/France/Belgium/Germany)
Junior Jury Prize
Wild Foxes - Valéry Carnoy
Audience Award
Muganga [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Marie-Hélène Roux (France/Belgium)
BeTv Prize
Nino - Pauline Loquès
(Translated from French)
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