Luc Dardenne

Jean-Pierre Dardenne was born on April 21st 1951 in Engis and Luc Dardenne on March 10th 1954 in Awirs. Jean-Pierre studied drama at the Institut des Arts de Diffusion with the professor Armand Gatti, stage director and poet, thanks to whom he first began film direction with is brother Luc. Luc, on his side, studied philosophy and sociology. They directed documentaries in the 70s before founding a production company in 1975, Dérives. A few years later, in 1994, they founded the company Les Films du Fleuve.

They directed their first feature film in 1987, Falsch, an adaptation of a play about the last survivor of a Jewish family exterminated by the nazis. This film is a milestone in their career : the transition to fiction. In 1992, they directed Je pense à vous, but will be discovered in 1996 at the Director’s Fortnight in Cannes with La Promesse. They were awarded their first Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival with Rosetta in 1999. Three years later, Olivier Gourmet was awarded as well with the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival for his role in The Son. In 2005, they won their second Palme d’Or for the film L’enfant joining the very select club of directors who got the award twice. With Lorna’s Silence, a drama about illegal immigration, they won the Best Screenplay Award in 2008 and, in 2011, The Kid with a Bike got the Grand Prix in Cannes. Later on they directed Two Days, One Night with French actress Marion Cotillard and The Unknown Girl with Adèle Haenel. In 2018, they directed Young Ahmed and won the Best Director Award during the 72nd edition of the Cannes Film Festival.

Brussels International Film Festival