Belgian film Close, about teen male friendship, wins Sydney Film Festival's top prize

Close is about "the rupture of an intimate relationship and the ensuing sense of responsibility and guilt," says writer-director Lukas Dhont. (Supplied: Madman Entertainment)

Belgian director Lukas Dhont has won Sydney Film Festival's $60,000 Sydney Film Prize for "audacious, cutting-edge and courageous" film for his queer teen tragedy Close, about a powerful friendship between two 13-year-old boys that is ruptured by their transition to high school — with tragic results.

The film, which screened in Sydney off the back of winning the Grand Prix (second prize) at Cannes, was praised by the Sydney Film Festival jury as "a tender, moving, powerful film. A mature film about innocence".