Unflinching porn drama ‘Pleasure’ wins Explore Award 2021
Pleasure, the bold feature debut by Swedish filmmaker Ninja Thyberg, has won the Explore Award at the 48th Film Fest Ghent. The youth jury – consisting of five members between the ages of 18 and 26 – had the chance to present the award to Ninja Thyberg and lead actress Sofia Kappel in person. Thanks to the Explore Award, the film can count on a media campaign in De Morgen, Knack Focus and on StuBru, worth €27,000. A Special Mention went to the intense and impactful Animals by Nabil Ben Yadir.
Each year, a five-member jury of enthusiastic young cinephiles between 18 and 26 years old enjoys the festival and follows the films with the ‘Explore Zone’ tag. They get to decide the winner of the prestigious Explore Award. This year, the jury consisted of Atalya De Cock, Dieter Bochar, Marieke De Bruyn, Yousef Hanon and Cato Andriessen. In a strong competition with sixteen films – including Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World, Jacques Audiard’s Les Olympiades, Jacqueline Lentzou’s feature debut Moon, 66 Questions and the LGBTQ+ documentary Colors of Tobi – Pleasureby Ninja Thyberg came out on top. The jury found it “an explicit and bold debut that breaks taboos and offers a nuanced view on the porn industry.”
