The 12th Magritte Film Awards ceremony unfolded on Saturday 4 March, celebrating the vitality of Belgian cinema - notably of the French-language variety - and shining a light on the movies released across 2022. There were two major outcomes at the event: the triumph of Bouli Lanners, who walked away with the Best Film and Best Director awards for Nobody Has To Know [+lee también:
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entrevista: Bouli Lanners
ficha de la película], as well as the Best Actor accolade for The Night of the 12th [+lee también:
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entrevista: Dominik Moll
ficha de la película], and the 7 trophies nabbed by Lukas Dhont’s Close [+lee también:
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entrevista: Eden Dambrine
entrevista: Lukas Dhont
entrevista: Lukas Dhont
ficha de la película], a Flemish film also competing for the “technical” artistic and acting awards.

Bouli Lanners’ triumph is especially impressive for the fact that it’s the third time (out of three nominations) the filmmaker has walked away with the Magritte Awards’ two key prizes, following the success of The Giants [+lee también:
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making of
entrevista: Bouli Lanners
ficha de la película] in 2012 and The First, The Last [+lee también:
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entrevista: Bouli Lanners
ficha de la película] in 2017. It’s also the fifth Best Film prize scooped by its producer Jacques-Henri Bronckart (Versus Production), out of 12 possible editions. Versus had even greater cause to celebrate, since the Liege-based firm also walked away with the Best Co-Produced Foreign Film prize for The Night of the 12th [+lee también:
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entrevista: Dominik Moll
ficha de la película] by Dominik Moll, and can likewise claim victory for the prizes won by Close which the firm co-produced.

And it was none other than Close which proved the other big winner of the evening, bagging no less than 7 awards. In the absence of Lukas Dhont, who’s incredibly active in the USA at present, prepping for the Oscars where his film is due compete next weekend, the movie bagged the Best Flemish Film trophy, as well as that for Best Screenplay, two prizes which the filmmaker previously claimed back in 2019 by way of his first feature film Girl [+lee también:
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entrevista: Lukas Dhont
ficha de la película]. Close also scooped the Best Photography award via Frank van den Eeden, Best Set Design via Eve Martin, and three acting accolades: Best Male Newcomer for Eden Dambrine, Best Supporting Actor for Igor Van Dessel, and Best Supporting Actress for Emilie Dequenne who is now on her fourth trophy, making her the most Magritte-rewarded actress at the event.

Another hotly anticipated trophy was that for Best Actress, which, unsurprisingly, after her victory the previous weekend at the Cesars, went to Virginie Efira for her role in Alice Winocour’s Paris Memories [+lee también:
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entrevista: Alice Winocour
ficha de la película]. Meanwhile, young actress Sophie Breyer scooped the Best Female Newcomer award for her part in Christophe Hermans’ The Hive [+lee también:
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entrevista: Christophe Hermans
ficha de la película].

Another movie stealing focus on the winners’ list is Zero Fucks Given [+lee también:
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entrevista: Emmanuel Marre y Julie Lec…
ficha de la película], a first feature film by Emmanuel Marre and Julie Lecoustre which turned a few heads in Cannes where it was selected in Critics’ Week, and which also earned itself 9 Magritte nominations. The movie ultimately walked away with the award for Best First Film, as well as Best Editing for Nicolas Rumpl and Best Costumes for Prunelle Rulens.

Last but not least, Nabil Ben Yadir’s shocking film Animals [+lee también:
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entrevista: Nabil Ben Yadir
ficha de la película] was rewarded for sound, Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah’s astonishing movie Rebel [+lee también:
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entrevista: Adil El Arbi y Bilall Fallah
ficha de la película] received the award for Best Original Score, and Laure Portier won Best Documentary for Soy Libre [+lee también:
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ficha de la película].

The full list of award-winners is as follows:

Best Film
Nobody Has To Know [+lee también:
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entrevista: Bouli Lanners
ficha de la película] - Bouli Lanners (Belgium/France/UK)

Best First Film
Zero Fucks Given [+lee también:
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entrevista: Emmanuel Marre y Julie Lec…
ficha de la película] - Julie Lecoustre & Emmanuel Marre (Belgium/France)

Best Director
Bouli Lanners – Nobody Has To Know

Best Flemish Film
Close [+lee también:
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entrevista: Eden Dambrine
entrevista: Lukas Dhont
entrevista: Lukas Dhont
ficha de la película] - Lukas Dhont (Belgium/France/the Netherlands)

Best Co-Produced Foreign Film
The Night of the 12th [+lee también:
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entrevista: Dominik Moll
ficha de la película] - Dominik Moll (France/Belgium)

Best Documentary
Soy Libre [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] - Laure Portier (France/Belgium)

Best Original or Adapted Screenplay
Lukas Dhont and Angelo Tijssens - Close

Best Actress
Virginie Efira – Paris Memories [+lee también:
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entrevista: Alice Winocour
ficha de la película] (France)

Best Actor
Bouli Lanners – The Night of the 12th

Best Supporting Actress
Emilie Dequenne - Close

Best Supporting Actor
Igor Van Dessel - Close

Best Female Newcomer
Sophie Breyer – The Hive [+lee también:
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entrevista: Christophe Hermans
ficha de la película] (Belgium/France)

Best Male Newcomer
Eden Dambrine - Close

Best Photography
Frank van den Eeden - Close

Best Sound
François Aubinet, Mathieu Cox, Pierre Mertens, David Vranken, Philippe Van Leer - Animals [+lee también:
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entrevista: Nabil Ben Yadir
ficha de la película] (Belgium/France)

Best Set Design
Eve Martin - Close

Best Costumes
Prunelle Rulens – Zero Fucks Given

Best Original Score
Hannes de Maeyer, Oum and Aboubakr Bensaihi - Rebel [+lee también:
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entrevista: Adil El Arbi y Bilall Fallah
ficha de la película] (Belgium/Luxembourg/France)

Best Editing
Nicolas Rumpl – Zero Fucks Given

Best Short Fiction Film
Ma gueule - Grégory Carnoli and Thibaut Wohlfahrt

Best Animated Short
Câline - Margot Reumont (Belgium/France)

Best Short Documentary
Arbres - Jean-Benoît Ugeux (Belgium)

Honorary Magritte
Agnès Jaoui