Top 100 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2022: #38. Lukas Dhont’s Close

Belgian filmmaker Lukas Dhont could’t have asked for a better career launch than premiering his debut feature in the Un Certain Regard section and claiming a quartet of film prizes: the Camera d’Or, FIPRESCI Prize, Un Certain Regard Jury Award for Best Performance, and the Queer Palm. Playing extremely well on the film festival circuit with pit stops at Telluride, TIFF, San Sebastián Film Festival, Girl was parlayed into a sophomore feature supported by the likes of Emilie Dequenne, and Léa Drucker. Written Angelo Tijssens, production on Close began last summer in July, with the goal to likely reach the Croisette once again this year.
Gist: Leo and Remi, two thirteen-year-old boys, have their close friendship suddenly thrown into disarray as the prospect of adolescence looms. Trying to understand what has gone wrong, Leo seeks comfort and grows closer to Remi’s mother, Sophie, as the boys pursue forgiveness and reconciliation to try and get their friendship back together.
Release Date/Prediction: We see a return to Cannes – once again in the Un Certain Regard section.
![]() |
![]() |
Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist and critic at IONCINEMA.com (founded in 2000). Eric is a regular at Sundance, Cannes and TIFF. He has a BFA in Film Studies at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013 he served as a Narrative Competition Jury Member at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson's This Teacher (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). In 2022 he served as a New Flesh Comp for Best First Feature at the 2022 Fantasia Intl. Film Festival. Current top films for 2022 include Tár (Todd Field), All That Breathes (Shaunak Sen), Aftersun (Charlotte Wells).
As we do every year, after we’ve unveiled our massive top list for the upcoming year...
About Dry Grasses
The Zone of Interest
Memory
Perdidos en la Noche