_{Close by Lukas Dhont}

The two companies have partnered several times in the past, for example on Dhont’s debut feature Girl* and on Felix van Groeningen’s Belgica, but Impens has now signalled his intention to retire.

Impens is credited with nurturing the careers of several of many figures in the new wave of Flemish filmmakers who have emerged in recent years, garnering Oscar nominations and winning major festival prizes, Lukas Dhont among them.

As Topkapi’s Frans Van Gestel remembers, he and his partners Laurette Schillings and Arnold Heslenfeld were bowled over when Minuet sent them the script for Dhont’s Girl. This was a project from a then unsung first-time filmmaker but they could immediately see Dhont’s potential. They came aboard as minority co-producers and were able to persuade the Netherlands Film Fund to support the film in spite of Dhont’s youth and relative inexperience.

“And, of course, the rest is history because Lukas did a perfect job with the directing,” Van Gestel recalls how Girl became a minor sensation in Cannes, winning the Camera D’Or award for first feature and selling all over the world. “That was how the collaboration started between Lukas and Topkapi.”

After the success of Girl, it was a natural step for Topkapi to come on board to co-produce Dhont’s next film too.

Impens and Dhont’s brother Michiel are the lead Belgian producers on Close, a story about the disruption of a very intense friendship between two teenage boys.

No, Van Gestel was not worried that Lukas Dhont might suffer from second feature syndrome and struggle to match the success of his debut film. “I did not have any doubts about the qualities of Lukas. I was not so concerned about the directing or the writing skills of Lukas and his co-writer Angelo Tijssens. However, I think the second feature is not only about quality but it is also about how to deal with all the pressure from the outside - [how] to make the choice about the right story and to have control of your film.”

The Topkapi boss speaks of his admiration of Dhont’s strategic approach. Instead of trying to make a much bigger film, maybe working with a major French co-producer, the director decided to make another intimately focused drama with partners he knew and trusted.

“He chose to stay close to home - to make a Belgian film, a small story with a big impact. I think this was a very, very brave choice. When we read the script, we really liked it. To be quite honest, I was very jealous that I am not getting every year a script like this, because it is very delicate and very balanced.”

The promise in the script was obvious. The only question Van Gestel had was whether the film would have a big enough impact for competition in Cannes. However, when he and Laurette Schillings saw the third or fourth cut of the film, they were again blown away, just as they had been with Girl. “We were really emotional… like Girl, it was very balanced, very nuanced, and with beautiful craftsmanship, so we were really, really happy.”

Not even the challenges presented by the pandemic side-tracked the production. This was not an easy shoot with one of the boys starring in the film badly injuring his arm. Plus there were various Covid interruptions. “It was a bumpy ride for a bit,” Van Gestel acknowledges but suggests that Dhont did not have to compromise his vision in the slightest. It helped that he had his brother, to whom he is very close, as a producer.

On the basis of Dhont’s first two features, Van Gestel ranks him already as a major director “This is a true artist staying really close to his own stories and what he is believing in,” he says of the young Belgian filmmaking prodigy.

Close is produced by Minuet, in co-production with Topkapi Films. Sales are handled by The Match Factory. For a full screening schedule for the selection and Marché du Film, click here. For more informaton on Cannes Film Festival, click here.
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*Film is supported by the Netherlands Film Fund