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 [+leggi anche:
recensione
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intervista: Arnaud Dufeys e Charlotte …
scheda film]. 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 [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Pierre Schoeller
scheda film] and soon to be seen in Nathan Ambrosioni’s Out of Love [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Nathan Ambrosioni
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The other big winner in Namur was Pauline Loquès’s Nino [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Pauline Loquès
scheda film], 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 [+leggi anche:
intervista: Vasilis Kekatos
scheda film]), 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 [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Morad Mostafa
scheda film], which is directed by Egypt’s Morad Mostafa, while Best Cinematography was awarded to Sylvain Verdet and Joachim Philippe for Imago [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Déni Oumar Pitsaev
scheda film] 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 [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Valéry Carnoy
scheda film]. 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 [+leggi anche:
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scheda film].

The winners are as follows:

Bayard d’Or for Best Film
We Believe You [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Arnaud Dufeys e Charlotte …
scheda film] - Arnaud Dufeys and Charlotte Devillers (Belgium)

Bayard for Best Screenplay
Nino [+leggi anche:
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trailer
intervista: Pauline Loquès
scheda film] - Pauline Loquès (France)

Bayard for Best Acting Performance
Myriem Akheddiou – We Believe You
Special Mention
Samuel Kircher – Wild Foxes [+leggi anche:
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trailer
intervista: Valéry Carnoy
scheda film] (Belgium/France)

Bayard for Best Cinematography
Sylvain Verdet and Joachim Philippe - Imago [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Déni Oumar Pitsaev
scheda film] (France/Belgium)

Special Jury Bayard
Aisha Can’t Fly Away [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Morad Mostafa
scheda film] - 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 [+leggi anche:
intervista: Vasilis Kekatos
scheda film] - Vasilis Kekatos (Greece/France/Belgium/Germany)

Junior Jury Prize
Wild Foxes - Valéry Carnoy

Audience Award
Muganga [+leggi anche:
recensione
scheda film] - Marie-Hélène Roux (France/Belgium)

BeTv Prize
Nino - Pauline Loquès