It’s an important moment for young filmmaker Lukas Dhont who was crowned the champion of Flemish cinema this Saturday past, taking home no less than 8 Ensor awards for his first feature film Girl [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Lukas Dhont
scheda film], including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor - for the incredible Victor Polster -, Best Screenplay and Best Director of Photography. Considered a veritable prophet in his homeland, this young man has seen the trajectory of his film end in resounding triumph, following a rosy beginning in Cannes 2018.

The film, which charts the inner journey of a young transgender girl who dreams of becoming a prima ballerina, scooped the prestigious Caméra d’or award in Cannes, where Victor Polster also bagged himself the prize for Best Performance in the Un Certain Regard sidebar of the Festival. Having toured the world, the film then went on to seduce Belgian and French audiences, with excellent results. A true phenomenon, it has also impressed its peers, who have now placed a laurel crown upon its figurative head in recognition of the filmmaker’s talent and the spot-on acting, but also the subtlety of the writing and the finely tuned artistic direction.

For her part, Ruth Beeckmans walked away with the Best Actress Ensor for her role in Trio, while Daniel Lambo’s Breathless [+leggi anche:
trailer
scheda film] was named Best Documentary. Frederike Migom bagged the Best Youth Film Award for Binti [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], while the Ensor for Best Animated Film went to the short work This Magnificent Cake! put forth by Emma De Swaef and Marc James Roels.

The two main audience awards - namely, the Best Box Office Results Award and the Telenet Audience Award - were won by the other major Flemish film which has stood out these past 12 months: Don’t Shoot [+leggi anche:
recensione
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scheda film], by Stijn Coninx.

A series of prizes also went to TV productions, a full list of which appears hereunder:

The winners:

Films

Best Film
Girl [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Lukas Dhont
scheda film] - Lukas Dhont (Belgium/Netherlands)

Best Director
Lukas Dhont - Girl

Best Screenplay
Lukas Dhont, Angelo Tijssens - Girl

Best Actor
Victor Polster - Girl

Best Actress
Ruth Beeckmans - Trio

Best Director of Photography
Frank van den Eeden - Girl

Best Set Design
Michelle Beeckman, Catherine Van Bree, Philippe Bertin - Girl

Best Music
Valentin Hadjadj - Girl

Best Editing
Alain Dessauvage - Girl

Best Documentary
Breathless [+leggi anche:
trailer
scheda film] - Daniel Lambo (Belgium/Netherlands)

Best Animated Film
This Magnicent Cake - Emma De Swaef, Marc James Roels (short film)

Best Youth Film
Binti [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] - Frederike Migom (Belgium/Netherlands)

Best Short Film
Provence - Kato De Boeck

Best Co-production
Our Struggles [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Guillaume Senez
scheda film] - Guillaume Senez (Belgium/France)

Best Box Office Results
Don’t Shoot [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film] - Stijn Coninx (Belgium/Netherlands)

Telenet Audience Award
Don’t Shoot - Stijn Coninx

Albert Bert International Reach Award
Hans Herbots

Television

Best TV Series
De Dag

Best Script
Jonas Geirnaert, Julie Mahieu - De Dag

Best Director
Gilles Coulier, Dries Vos - De Dag

Best Actor
Peter Van den Begin - Studio Tarara

Best Actress
Janne Desmet - Studio Tarara

Best Documentary
Kinderen van de Kolonie