Film Fest Gent presents festival programme

On Wednesday 25 September, the programme of the 40th Film Fest Gent was presented and explained to the press. Between 8 and 19 October, Film Fest Gent once again offers a wide range of films by both new talents and established directors, as well as several music concerts. There is also scope for debate during our ‘Director’s Talks’, for which guest speakers such as Paul Schrader are coming to Ghent. This year, the film festival is focusing on American Independent Cinema. There is a major Martin Scorsese exhibition, debates and film selections based on American Paranoia and indie cinema. The highlights of the programme are briefly presented below.

Opening film

The 40th edition of Film Fest Gent will open on Tuesday 8 October with the compelling thriller ‘The Fifth Estate’ by Bill Condon, with the British actor Benedict Cumberbatch in the role of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. This opening film will be screened in both Kinepolis and Capitole on 8 October.

Official Selection: Competition

This year, 13 films will be competing for the main prize in the official competition. These are ‘Ain’t Them Bodies Saints’ by David Lowery, ‘L’étrange couleur des larmes de ton corps’ by Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani, ‘Harmony Lessons’ by Emir Baigazin, ‘I Am the Same, I Am Another’ by Caroline Strubbe, ‘The Immigrant’ by James Gray, ‘L’Inconnu du lac’ by Alain Guiraudie, ‘In The Name Of’ by Malgoska Szumowska, ‘Kill Your Darlings’ by John Krokidas, ‘Like Father, Like Son’ by Hirokazu Koreeda, ‘The Missing Picture’ by Rithy Panh, ‘The Selfish Giant’ by Clio Barnard, ‘Suzanne’ by Katell Quillévéré and ‘A Touch of Sin’ by Jia Zhang-ke. The competition jury consists of the Belgian filmmaker Fien Troch, the musician and composer John Parish, the Hungarian director István Szabó, the Argentinian composer Gustavo Santaolalla, the Iranian director of Kurdish ethnicity Bahman Ghobadi and the French director Denis Dercourt.

Belgian Films

The programme features a total of four Belgian films. Caroline Strubbe is returning to Film Fest Gent with ‘I Am the Same, I Am An Other’, her follow-up to ‘Lost Persons Area’. Two debut films confirm the diversity of the new Flemish films d'auteur: ‘82 Days in April’ by Bart Van den Bempt and ‘Drift’ by Benny Vandendriessche & Dirk Hendrikx. From French-speaking Belgium, we have ‘L’étrange couleur des larmes de ton corps’, the new sophisticated giallo homage by the duo Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani.

There are also plenty of Belgian works in our short film selections. Of course we have the short film competition for Belgian students, but our European short film selection also includes several Belgian entries, including ‘Death of a Shadow’ (Tom Van Avermaet), ‘Houses with Small Windows’ (Bülent Öztürk) and ‘Tokyo Giants’ (Nicolas Provost).

Galas & Previews

We have already announced that ‘Behind The Candelabra’ will bring this anniversary edition of the festival to a close. In addition, special screenings of ‘Gravity’, ‘Lovelace’ and ‘Don Jon’, in the presence of the director and actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt, have already been made known.

The programme also features new work by directors such as Roman Polanski, Jean-Pierre Jeunet and the Coen brothers. A raft of new names are therefore being announced today, including those of Philippe Claudel (‘Avant l’Hiver’), Cédric Klapisch (‘Casse-tête chinois’) and Sean Baker (‘Starlet’).

Film music

A significant part of Film Fest Gent still revolves around film music, with the internationally renowned World Soundtrack Awards & Concert as the highlight. On 19 October, we will be presenting the 13th edition in Ghent's Kuipke Velodrome. The programme features Alexandre Desplat and Riz Ortolani, among others. After the annual presentation of the prestigious film music awards, the Brussels Philharmonic (conducted by Dirk Brossé) will perform a striking selection from the comprehensive works of these major film composers. The music will be accompanied by film clips.

On Saturday 19 October, seasoned film music lovers can attend a genuine WSA marathon which includes a screening of the documentary ‘Brossé’, a meet & greet with several composers and much more. As this is the 40th edition of Film Fest Gent, we have also arranged a concert to celebrate this anniversary in a suitably festive way. 40 composers worked together to each compose 1 minute of music, which will be performed at the Handelsbeurs concert hall by the Brussels Philharmonic on Wednesday 16 October. The programme also features many other concerts, including a screening of ‘7th Heaven’ accompanied by live piano music.

Focus on Martin Scorsese

As well as film and music, we also focus on big names in the film world. This year, the film festival will be focusing on the American director Martin Scorsese. The exhibition, organised by the Deutsche Kinemathek – Museum für Film und Fernsehen in Berlin, provides insights into the career and work of one of the world's greatest living film directors. It runs from 11 October 2013 to 26 January 2014 in the Caermersklooster Provincial Cultural Centre. To complement this exhibition, the MIAT museum will feature a retrospective which includes several films from the comprehensive body of work by Martin Scorsese. In addition, KASKcinema will be screening various Scorsese films in the context of One Shot Cinema.

The ‘Scoring for Scorsese’ concert will take place on Thursday 17 October, featuring works by composers such as Bernard Herrmann (‘Taxi Driver’), Howard Shore (‘Gangs of New York’) and Elmer Bernstein (‘Cape Fear’). The focus on Scorsese also includes a book compiled by Patrick Duynslaegher, a CD of the ‘Scoring for Scorsese’ concert and an educational project for young people.

This year, even our festival café will revolve around Scorsese and has been given the fitting name of ‘Marty’s Bar’. It is the ideal place to relax between screenings or enjoy a drink with friends after the evening screening.

Selections

In order to make it easier for the public to find their way around the programme, we are presenting several different selections as usual. For example, we have ‘Suitable for children’ for the very youngest viewers, ‘ExploreZone’ for young people and ‘Plusparcours’ for people aged 65 and over. This year, we also have several themed selections, including ‘Sex is back’ (provocative cinema with no taboos), ‘On The Edge’ (for adventurous film fans), ‘Gay Scene’ and ‘American Paranoia’ (about the paranoia which is holding America firmly in its grasp). In addition, Belgian films are placed in the spotlight in the ‘Belgian Cinema Today’ selection.

Film Fest Friends

A new feature this year is our ‘Film Fest Friends’ scheme which offers several exclusive benefits and discounts, such as discounted tickets and the possibility of reserving tickets before they go on sale officially.

Film Fest Gent on tour

For people who simply can't get enough of Film Fest Gent, on every third Thursday of the month we will be presenting ‘Film Fest Gent on tour’ in the Kinepolis cinemas in Ghent, Kortrijk, Antwerp, Leuven and Hasselt. This will even happen twice in October: on the opening evening ‘The Fifth Estate’ will go on tour, followed by ‘Inside Llewyn Davis’ by Joel and Ethan Coen on 17 October.

The full programme and further information can be found at www.filmfestival.be or in our free festival brochure Knack Focus Special. You can also visit our site for all the press folders, programme notes, guest list, interview list and a summary of the press screenings.