The 41st Namur International Francophone Film Festival wrapped this Sunday 4 October, announcing the winners of its official awards and side prizes and confirming the triumph of A Place To Heal. Kahn’s latest title premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival in early September, where it also earned its talented young lead, Malou Khebizi (discovered in Wild Diamond), the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor or Actress.

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This time round, the film won over the Feature Film Jury, chaired by filmmaker Cesar Diaz and composed of producer Hugo Deghilage, director Arnaud Dufeys, actress Fantine Harduin, and author-comedian Fanny Ruwet. The jury praised A Place To Heal as “a film of great precision, which constantly questions ‘reality’ and points to adults, whether absent or failing, as responsible for these teenagers’ wounds, which they don’t bear alone, instead finding the solidarity which the adult world has denied them within a group and with the help of their care team.” The movie also impressed the seven young members of the Junior Jury, who chose to honour this “real, moving and necessary film, which speaks to us unflinchingly about friendship, hope and healing.” Kahn’s work also picked up the BeTV Prize from the Belgian broadcaster.

Another movie which featured twice among the official award winners is Pierre Le Gall’s debut feature Flesh and Fuel, which was presented in Cannes’ Critics’ Week last May where it scooped the Queer Palm Revelation Prize. In Namur, the film received the Bayard for Best Performance for Alexis Manenti and Julian Świeżewski, as well as the Bayard for Best First Film, awarded by the Critics’ Jury, who applauded this “singular romance that transcends all expectations. Disarming in nature, the film moves us with its motorway love story, brimming with audacity and explosive in its form.”

The third feature by Ann Sirot and Raphael Balboni, Diane in the Loop — also unveiled in Venice, where it won the Orizzonti Grand Prix — picked up the Bayard for Best Screenplay. The Bayard for Best Cinematography went to Nicolas Canniccioni for his meticulous craftsmanship on Gessica Geneus’ Mary Magdalene, and, last but not least, the Jury chose to bestow its Special Bayard on Louis Clichy’s very lovely animated film Iron Boy, which has already claimed trophies in Cannes (Un Certain Regard section) and Annecy.

The audience, for their part, went all in on comedy, handing their prize to Matthieu Rumani and Nicolas Slomka’s debut feature Camembert, a film buoyed by a top-drawer cast featuring Kristin Scott-Thomas, Guillermo Guiz, Alex Lutz, Pascale Arbillot, Bernard Le Coq, Panayotis Pascot and Anaïde Rozam.

The full list of award-winners is as follows:

Golden Bayard for Best Film
A Place To Heal - Cédric Kahn (France)

Bayard for Best Screenplay
Diane in the Loop - Ann Sirot and Raphaël Balboni (Belgium/France)

Bayard for Best Performance
Alexis Manenti and Julian Świeżewski – Flesh and Fuel (France/Poland)

Bayard for Best Cinematography
Nicolas Canniccioni – Mary Magdalene (France/Haiti/Belgium/Luxembourg/Canada)

Special Jury Bayard
Iron Boy - Louis Clichy (France/Belgium)

Other prizes

Bayard for Best First Film - awarded by the Critics’ Jury
Flesh and Fuel - Pierre Le Gall

Junior Jury Prize
A Place To Heal - Cédric Kahn

Audience Award
Camembert - Matthieu Rumani and Nicolas Slomka (France)

BeTv Prize
A Place To Heal - Cédric Kahn