{"id":34426,"date":"2026-08-25T20:26:31","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T20:26:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/34426\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T20:26:31","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T20:26:31","slug":"oscars-belgium-selects-lukas-dhonts-coward-for-international-feature-film-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/34426\/","title":{"rendered":"Oscars: Belgium Selects Lukas Dhont\u2019s \u2018Coward\u2019 For International Feature Film Race"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lukas Dhont’s latest feature, Coward, has been selected as Belgium’s entry for the Best International Feature Film<\/a> category at the 99th Academy Awards.<\/p>\n

Directed by Dhont from a screenplay he wrote with Angelo Tijssens, Coward is set at the height of World War I and follows Pierre (Emmanuel Macchia), a soldier newly arrived at the front who is eager to prove himself. Behind the lines, he meets Francis (Valentin Campagne), who decides to lift the spirits of his comrades by putting together a theater show. While the violence continues, both men try to find ways to escape the brutality of war, even if only for a moment.<\/p>\n

More from Deadline<\/p>\n

Coward is a Reunion, Lumen, Topkapi Films & Versus (Opus) production in co-production with France 2 Cin\u00e9ma, VTM, RTBF, Proximus, BeTV & Orange. The film was produced in association with The Common Humanity Art Trust and Portobello Productions.<\/p>\n

The film will be distributed in Benelux by Lumi\u00e8re and in France by Diaphana Distribution. Mubi<\/a> has acquired Coward for North America, the UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Latin America, Australia, and New Zealand. The North American theatrical date is December 25.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Director Lukas Dhont Says ‘Coward’ Is About The Bravery Of “Choosing The Truest Parts Of Ourselves” \u2013 Cannes Studio<\/a><\/p>\n

In his review out of Cannes<\/a>, Deadline’s Pete Hammond described the film as a “heartbreaking screen love story.”<\/p>\n

“Lukas Dhont in his brief filmography has proven to be a filmmaker whose eye is on people and what makes us who we are,” Hammond wrote. “That is a rare talent, much needed in these daunting times. Coward may be a story taking place in war, but it is set firmly in the human heart.”<\/p>\n

RELATED: Lukas Dhont On Subverting The War Film Genre With Cannes Title ‘Coward’: “Male Bonding Has Too Often Been Used As A Tool To Destroy”<\/a><\/p>\n

RELATED: Lukas Dhont’s ‘Coward’ Gets 13-Minute Ovation In Cannes<\/a><\/p>\n

Best of Deadline<\/p>\n

Sign up for Deadline’s Newsletter<\/a>. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lukas Dhont’s latest feature, Coward, has been selected as Belgium’s entry for the Best International Feature Film category…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34427,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[18566,7,18539,18567,18551,18540,18568,18552],"class_list":["post-34426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-belgium","tag-angelo-tijssens","tag-belgium","tag-coward","tag-emmanuel-macchia","tag-international-feature-film","tag-lukas-dhont","tag-pete-hammond","tag-valentin-campagne"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@be\/117158031152817446","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34426\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}