Nosy questions: Lukas Dhont answers

What does the Queer Palm represent for you?
It is a prize that is about new possibilities, new types of identities; it is a rock n’roll prize. Queer cinema for me isn’t merely something that talks about sexual orientations or gender, it’s also a new form of cinema in itself, which brings about new codes and norms, with an idea of transgression.

How did you feel when you were offered the presidency of the jury for the Queer Palm?
I was very proud. Accepting my own queerness was part of a very long process within my personal journey, and the idea of displaying it in such an open way today is very important for me; especially considering the current political atmosphere.

What is one Queer Palm that has left a distinct impression on you?
Stranger by the Lake by Guiraudie; it is a film that stays with me in my daily life.

What are you up to at 3 a.m. in Cannes?
I’m checking the DCP (Digital Cinema Package, i.e. the copy of a film that is supposed to be screened) of the film I will be introducing.

One memory of Cannes that is especially dear to you?
When I came to Cannes for Girl, and Benicio Del Toro, whom I admire a lot, congratulated me. He used very personal and relevant words about the film, and I was very moved by it.

Your very first memory of Cannes ?
I came to Cannes with Cinéfondation in 2016. I was very nervous and I recall that seeing American Honey by Andrea Arnold had really helped me.

The film you are expecting the most this year?
Julie Keeps Quiet, by Belgian filmmaker Leonardo Van Dijl

The last film you have seen?
La Chimera by Alice Rohrwacher, a film both mystical and precise that I adored.

Your very own Queer Palm?
Orlando, by Sally Potter.