26e Internationaal Filmfestival van Vlaanderen-Gent 1999

The festival is no longer only making a film programme for its own festival in October, but also for other periods and projects. Among other things, it is putting together a "Ghent and Charles V" film programme to accompany the cultural events celebrating the five-hundredth birthday of Emperor Charles V of Habsburg. From September to the end of December, a retrospective of some 60 films on historical subjects will run in the Film Plateau's cinema. In addition, the festival also provides a film programme for the Ghent Festivities and for Jazz in the Park.

This year's Focus highlights Sweden's rich film history. The festival aims to introduce audiences to well-known and lesser-known Swedish filmmakers in cooperation with the Swedish Institute. Furthermore, the festival is once again giving the Joseph Plateau Honorary Award to five film personalities: American director Stanley Donen, American producers Irwin Winkler and Bonnie Arnold, British director Peter Greenaway and American actress Sandra Bullock. The festival pays homage to the two film legends Stanley Donen, maker of such films as Singin' in the Rain, and Irwin Winkler, producer of such films as Raging Bull, The Right Stuff and Rocky, by screening a selection of their oeuvre. Both are present in Ghent for this. The International Film Festival also initiates an event around and with British director Peter Greenaway by organising a retrospective exhibition about him and presenting a retrospective of his film and video oeuvre.

This year's film festival also takes a big step towards the 21st century. Digital cinema made its entry into the film world with dizzying speed. In that light, the festival creates a new programme section that features five days of lectures, conferences, demonstrations and discussions around this digital revolution.