CINEMATIC INFLUENCES

The 33-year-old Belgian filmmaker and Galerie curator Lukas Dhont is a creative force. With two critically lauded feature films under his belt, Dhont has established an incisive POV examining the burdens and the joys that gender, sexuality and societal expectations place on youth, finding fully embodied performances by young nonactors.

In 2018 he made waves with his debut feature, Girl, a portrait of a trans aspiring ballerina that won both the Caméra d’Or and the Queer Palm at the Cannes Film Festival. His second film, Close, a wrenching look into adolescence through the intimate friendship of two 13-year-old boys combusting under social pressures, burrows deep under the skin. The film was nominated for Best International Feature at the 95th Academy Awards.

Join Dhont for a deep dive into the films that influenced his work, from a visual standpoint, musical standpoint and a directorial standpoint.