Le Faux Soir and Coward head to Toronto

1943. The Nazis occupy Belgium and have turned the national daily Le Soir into their propaganda tool.

With 1918 Armistice Day commemorations forbidden, a group of Resistance fighters comes up with a wild idea: what if, to lift the spirits of the Belgian people, they could print a fake edition of Le Soir?
Same paper, same nameplate, same format, but packed with articles mocking the occupier.

A true story. A fake newspaper. The world's first media hack.

Michaël R. Roskam and Bernard Falaise wrote the screenplay for Le Faux Soir, loosely adapted from the book by Marie Istas. Michaël R. Roskam directs the film. The cast includes Arieh Worthalter, Mélanie Thierry, Karim Leklou, Mara Taquin, Bouli Lanners, Julien Frison, François Damiens, Ruth Becquart, Peter Van den Begin and Viviane De Muynck.

Le Faux Soir is an international co-production with Harbor Men Pictures, Roskam’s production company, as the Flemish partner, alongside the Belgian company Frakas Productions and the French company Rectangle Productions. International sales are handled by Goodfellas. Cinéart will release the film in the Benelux.

Coward and Le Faux Soir were made with the support of the Flanders Audiovisual Fund and the Screen Flanders Economic Fund. 

Coward had its world premiere a few months ago at the Cannes Film Festival, where the film was met with a long standing ovation and rave reviews. Lead actors Emmanuel Macchia and Valentin Campagne were also awarded the Prize for Best Male Performance. Lukas Dhont has thus made Flemish film history at Cannes. In 2018, he won the Caméra d’Or there with his feature film debut Girl, and in 2022, its follow-up Close was awarded the Grand Prix.

In Coward, Pierre arrives at the front in 1917 as a new recruit, driven to prove himself in battle. He meets Francis, who tries to keep troop morale high with improvised shows. As the war rages relentlessly, they both try to escape reality, if only for a moment.

Coward is produced by Michiel Dhont for The Reunion, in co-production with the Belgian company Versus (Opus), the French company Lumen and the Dutch company Topkapi Films.

For his third film, director Lukas Dhont once again surrounded himself with a number of trusted collaborators. He co-wrote the screenplay with Angelo Tijssens. Frank Van den Eeden once again handled the cinematography, Alain Dessauvage was responsible for the editing, and the music was composed by Valentin Hadjadj, as it was for Girl and Close.

The international sales agent The Match Factory has further expanded the international release of Coward in recent months. In addition to the previously announced deal with MUBI covering, amongst others, Spain, Italy, Latin America and the United Kingdom, the film has since also been sold to distributors in numerous other European and Asian territories.

The film will have its Belgian premiere as the opening film at Film Fest Gent. Distributor Lumière will then release Coward in cinemas across the Benelux this autumn.