A24 buys Cannes drama ‘Close’ for North America

A24 has acquired North American rights to Lukas Dhont’s Close, which gets its world premiere today (May 26) in competition at the Cannes festival. 

Directed by Dhont from a screenplay he wrote with Angelo Tijssens, the drama about a friendship between two 13-year-old boys stars newcomers Eden Dambrine and Gustav De Waele. Also in the cast are Émilie Dequenne, Léa Drucker, Kevin Janssens, Marc Weiss, Igor Van Dessel, and Léon Bataille. 

Michiel Dhont and Dirk Impens produced the film for Menuet and Diaphana, and Topkapi Films and Versus Productions were co-producers. The Match Factory is handling worldwide sales. 

The North American deal comes on the heels of Mubi’s acquisition of Close for the UK/Ireland, Turkey, Latin America and India. 

Lukas Dhont’s debut film Girl won the Camera d’Or at Cannes in 2018 as well as the festival’s Queer Palm, Fipresci Prize and Un Certain Regard best performance award for Victor Polster. The film also won prizes at San Sebastian, Zurich and the BFI London Film Festival. 

Close is due to screen next month at the Sydney Film Festival.