When Lukas Dhont was 12, a camera was thrust into his hands. For Dhont, who would come out as gay as a young adult, the camera was an escape from the strains and stereotypes he was beginning to feel pushed on him.
. Dhont was at a New York hotel when it was announced.
“The funny thing is that they’re teenagers now,” Dhont says. “They have long hair and skateboards. It’s been a real gift to be able to experience this whole journey through the eyes of 14-year-olds.” Dhont’s first film, “Girl,” about a teenage ballerina’s gender transition, won the the Caméra d’Or for best first feature in Cannes. But when it arrived on Netflix, some in the LGBTQ community questioned Dhont’s casting of a non-transgender lead and criticized a scene of self-inflected violence as perpetuating a false narrative of gender transition. DhontSome reviewers have also criticized “Close" and its drastic mid-movie shift of being emotionally manipulative.
“There were some friends out there that I actively pushed away out of fear,” Dhont says. “I deprived not only myself but them from the love they felt — and I mean love in the broadest sense of the term. I think this film is also an ode to them.”Niobe Way’s 2013 book “Deep Secrets: Boys’ Friendships and the Crisis of Connection.”
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