LE JEUNE AHMED / YOUNG AHMED

Ahmed is a 13-year-old Muslim boy in a small Belgian town, who lacks a father figure and his mother is struggling to handle him and his sister. Inspired by a cousin who has gone off to be a jihadi fighter, Ahmed has become radicalised by a local extremist imam.

ŽAN-PJER I LIK DARDEN / JEAN-PIERRE DARDENNE, LUC DARDENNE

Multi-award-winning Belgian brothers Jean-Pierre (1951) and Luc (1954) Dardenne began writing, producing and directing documentary and narrative films in the late 1970s. They were thrust onto the international stage with The Promise (1996), which, among many other honors, nabbed the Best Foreign Film prize from both the L.A. Film Critics Association and the National Society of Film Critics in the U.S. Their next film, Rosetta won the 1999 Palme d’Or at Cannes, and The Child garnered a second in 2005, making them members of a very elite club of just eight directors who have walked away with Cannes’ highest honor twice. In addition, Lorna’s Silence (2008) won the Best Screenplay Award, The Kid with a Bike (2011) won the Grand Prix, and Young Ahmed (2019) snagged this year’s Best Director Award at Cannes. Over the years, they have been nominated for seven César Awards and one BAFTA.