A24 Acquires Lukas Dhont’s ‘Close’ Ahead of Cannes Premiere

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterSPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “Payback,” “The Only Man in the Sky” and “Barbary Coast,” the first three episodes of “The Boys” Season 3.Everything is finally going well for Hughie (Jack Quaid) in “The Boys” Season 3 premiere until, as star Claudia Doumit puts it to Variety, “In true ‘Boys’ fashion, just at the end of the first episode, we’ve seen enough of that and we need blood, we want chaos.”After spending the year following the Season 2 finale working for Congresswoman Victoria Neuman (Doumit) at the Federal Bureau of Superhuman Affairs, Hughie finds out at the end of Friday’s Season 3 premiere that Neuman is a supe herself. She kills an innocent man from her past to keep her status quiet, not knowing Hughie is watching in the shadows, horrified to learn who his colleague and friend truly is.

Austin Butler and Tom Hanks suit up sharp for the premiere of their new film, Elvis, held at BFI Southbank on Tuesday night (May 31) in London, England.

After taking home the Un Certain Regard Fipresci prize in 2018 for the trans-female ballet dancer feature Girl, filmmaker Lukas Dhont returned to home to find himself staring at the blank page for his next project.

Belgium’s Lukas Dhont takes a deserved step up to the Cannes Film Festival competition with Close, only his second film — a minimalist melodrama that shows a definite growth in visual style but may be confronting to some with its deliberately unhurried, Eric Rohmer-esque aesthetic. The international success of Dhont’s well-intentioned debut Girl, about a young trans-female ballet dancer, was somewhat blunted in the U.S., where G.L.A.A.D. amplified complaints of misrepresentation on behalf of the trans lobby. Close is a much safer proposition, but may yet sail into choppy waters with its themes of youth suicide.

A24 has picked up North American rights to Lukas Dhont’s Close.

Manori Ravindran International EditorGlobal streamer and distributor MUBI has struck again, this time snapping up select markets for Lukas Dhont’s keenly anticipated “Close.”MUBI has acquired the U.K., Ireland, Latin America, Turkey and India.The film stars Lea Drucker, Émilie Dequenne, Kevin Janssens and newcomers Eden Dambrine and Gustav De Waele. “Close” will receive its world premiere on Thursday at the festival, where it’s playing in competition.The film will be released theatrically followed by an exclusive MUBI streaming release.“Girl,” Dhont’s debut feature film, won the Camera d’Or at Cannes in 2018.

EXCLUSIVE: Mubi has acquired Lukas Dhont’s Cannes Competion entry Close for the UK, Ireland, Latin America, Turkey and India.

Cannes Film Festival.Members of the production team for “Butterly Vision,” by Ukrainian director Maksym Nakonechni, protested the ongoing war in Ukraine while on the red carpet Wednesday.In front of Salle Debussy, the second-largest theater in Cannes, the team — including producers Darya Bassel and Yelizaveta Smit, plus actress Rita Burkovska — held a banner that read, “Russians kill Ukrainians. Do you find it offensive or disturbing to talk about this genocide?”The sirens heard on the red carpet stairs were meant to symbolize air raids in Ukraine, while the protestors held signs that read “sensitive content” over their faces.Not only were they demonstrating the ongoing devastation in Ukraine, but they were also attempting to show the extent of Russian censorship.The film “Butterfly Vision” explores a similar idea, albeit in a fictional world.

The cast of Elvis has arrived for the premiere at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival!

Austin Butler, Tom Hanks, and Olivia DeJonge headlined the star-studded premiere for the upcoming Elvis Presley biopic at the Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday. The group was also joined by the singer’s ex-wife, Priscilla Presley. On the red carpet, Luhrmann showed off a flashy Elvis belt buckle to an impressed Butler. The group was also peppered with a long list of other stars showing their support, including Shakira, Sharon Stone, Ricky Martin, Kylie Minogue, Maye Musk, Jwan Yosef, Winnie Harlow, Shanina Shaik, Elsa Hosk, Candice Swanepoel, Stella Maxwell, Adriana Lima, and Andre Lemmers. Team #Elvis has entered the building.

review of the film for TheWrap, Ben Croll wrote that Abbasi with “Holy Spider” turns the murder thriller “upside down, telling a story where the killer’s identify is never in doubt and his intentions are always crystal clear, and where the greatest source of tension comes from wondering whether anyone in power will lift a finger to stop him.”Abbasi wrote “Holy Spider” with Afshin Kamran Bahrami. Sol Bondy and Jacob Jarek produced the film.

Gregg Goldstein Belgian director Lukas Dhont is in rare company. His 2018 Un Certain Regard debut, “Girl,” won the Caméra d’Or and three more Cannes prizes, besting the number of first-time feature wins from the likes of Steven Soderbergh and Steve McQueen. And while his rise has come with some controversy, he earned a place in competition with the May 26 Lumière gala premiere of his sophomore effort, “Close.” The story of two 13-year-old boys whose powerful friendship ends when their relationship comes under scrutiny “started from a very personal place,” says the out director, who penned the script with “Girl” co-writer Angelo Tijssens.

Naomi Campbell looks amazing on the red carpet at the premiere of Decision To Leave during the 2022 Cannes Film Festival on Monday (May 23) in Cannes, France.

Kristen Stewart just gave us another great red carpet moment!

Thania Garcia Ahead of its Monday evening premiere at the Cannes Film Festival’s Midnight Screenings section, the first trailer for filmmaker Brett Morgen’s “Moonage Daydream” — a feature-length film dissecting David Bowie’s creative, musical and spiritual journey — has been released.Featuring never-before-seen footage, performances, and music, the documentary is piloted by Bowie’s own narration. It is the first film project officially sanctioned by Bowie’s estate.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film WriterA group of women protestors staged a dramatic scene at the Cannes Film Festival on Sunday, releasing plumes of smoke from handheld devices and displaying a long banner for the global press.At the premiere of “Holy Spider,” director Ali Abbasi’s female-centered thriller, roughly 12 women in formalwear gathered on the famed stairs of the festival’s Grand Palais with raised fists — filling the space with thick black smoke and holding a long scroll of women’s names.Security seemed unfazed by the event, allowing the protestors to be filmed and photographed. One insider close to the production said the protest was not a coordinated stunt to promote the film, about a journalist who travels to the Iranian holy city of Mashhad to investigate a serial killer murdering sex workers.

Christopher Vourlias Ukrainian filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa’s latest documentary, “The Natural History of Destruction,” bows May 23 in the Cannes Premiere section of the Cannes Film Festival. The director returns to the Croisette one year after his last feature, “Babi Yar.

Lukas Dhont’s Cannes debut was also his debut feature, Girl, which ran in Un Certain Regard in 2018. A stunning start for the young Belgian, the movie brought him the Caméra d’Or and myriad other prizes down the line. Now, four years later, Dhont is returning to Cannes with his follow-up, Close, which has landed him in the main competition.