The latest film and festival news
The 20th anniversary edition of the World Soundtrack Awards will be celebrated in a special way. Adapted to current circumstances, this year's WSA will be an online edition, livestreamed from Kinepolis Ghent, where the ceremony itself will take place. This will give the festival's international audience the chance to enjoy the award ceremony and concert from everywhere around the world in a safe and corona-proof manner. The World Soundtrack Awards will be the closing event of Film Fest Ghent.
More than four months ahead of the festival, Film Fest Ghent is releasing the campaign poster of its 47th edition: this year it is a double portrait of film icon Romy Schneider and German actor August Diehl, referring to the focus on German cinema in this year's festival programme. During the festival edition in October, safety first will be our motto and we will take into account all the measures against the corona virus that will be in force at that time.
For its 47th programme, Film Fest Ghent is looking at the cinematographic lay of the land in neighbouring country Germany. Programme Director Wim De Witte and programmer Michiel Philippaerts delineate why the contemporary cinema of our neighbours is so extremely compelling. "It is certain that the diversity has never been so great."
For several weeks now, we have all been living a different reality: we face an unprecedented health crisis, and we see the enormous damage it is causing worldwide. Film Fest Ghent empathizes with all those affected and hopes that the solidarity with those who are struggling and with those who are committed to the public interest will survive in post-corona times.
The ultimate deadline for submission for the competition of Best Belgian Student Short has been postponed from 7 to 29 September, due to the uncertainty caused by Covid-19. As such, Film Fest Ghent abides with the film schools who have postponed their deadlines for graduation projects, in order to accomodate students and future filmmakers.
Film magazine Movie Maker listed Film Fest Ghent on their 2020 list of 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee. This list is directed at film producers and directors in the industry and helps them find the right film festivals that can be a tipping point in their career.
Film has made avant-garde composer Krzysztof Penderecki world famous. Starting as two separate sources of inspiration, film and music became one and enriched each other. Precisely for this reason, Penderecki received a Lifetime Achievement Award of the World Soundtrack Academy, last year at Film Fest Ghent 2019.
Film Fest Ghent now accepts registrations and submissions for the 19th edition of the World Soundtrack Awards Film Music Composition Contest. This year we invite participants to write an original composition for a selected excerpt from 'J'ai perdu mon corps' ('I Lost My Body'), Jérémy Clapin's 2019 film (which was part of the Official Competition at Film Fest Ghent 2019). The deadline for submissions is 31 May 2020. The winner will receive the Sabam Award for the Most Original Composition by a Young International Composer.
'Öndög' by the Chinese director and Golden Bear winner Wang Quan’an ('Tuya's Marriage') will come to the Belgian cinemas in mid-May. 'Öndög' won the main prize during the last edition of Film Fest Gent in October 2019: the Grand Prix for Best Film. This recognition convinced film distributor MOOOV to distribute the film in the Benelux.
She was nominated for the World Soundtrack Discovery of the Year Award and has now received the Oscar for best original score. In between, she also picked up a Bafta, a World Soundtrack Award, an Emmy and a Grammy. In recent months things have been moving fast for Icelandic composer and cellist Hildur Guðnadóttir. Proof once again that the World Soundtrack Academy has an eye and a good ear for new talent.
This year, multiples of twenty play a major role in the life of our music director Dirk Brossé: not only can he blow out 60 candles on 18 February, but it is also the 40th year of his thriving career. On top of that, he will celebrate the 20th edition of the World Soundtrack Awards, which he will be conducting again in 2020.
In 2020, the World Soundtrack Awards (WSA) will take place on Saturday 24 October at Capitole Gent. Next year, Film Fest Gent is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the World Soundtrack Awards. As is traditional, the WSA gala will close the 47th edition of the festival.
For the 19th year in a row, the World Soundtrack Awards were announced during Film Fest Gent. The World Soundtrack Awards, one of the most imporant film music awards, place an emphasis on the oeuvres of special contributors to the world of film music. This year's winners are Nicholas Britell, Hildur Guðnadóttir, Lady Gaga, Frédéric Vercheval, Michael Abels, John Powell and Pierre Charles. Frédéric Devreese and Krzysztof Penderecki were both honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award.
On Wednesday evening, 'Monos' received the Georges Delerue Award for Best Music and Sound Design. On Thursday, director Alejandro Landes received more good news. The Explore Zone Jury –made up of adolescents between 18 and 26 years old – has chosen his mystery-thriller fusion film as the winner of the Explore Zone Award.
'Öndög', by director and Golden Bear laureate Wang Quan'an ('Tuya's Marriage') has been awarded with the Grand Prix for Best Film. Meanwhile, Alejandro Landes' mysterious thriller, 'Monos', with a score from Mica Levi and Lena Esquenazi, has scooped up the Georges Delerue Award for Best Music and Sound Design. Pietro Marcello received a Special Jury Prize for Best Director for his 'Martin Eden'.
Actress Geraldine Chaplin, daughter of the legendary Charlie Chaplin, received the Joseph Plateau Honorary Award at Film Fest Gent on Sunday 13th of October. This career prize celebrates her major contribution to the art of cinema and her impressive oeuvre.
In front of the impressive façade of Kinepolis Ghent, you will find Film Fest Gent’s official festival square: the beating heart and buzzing home of the festival. Don’t forget to bring your camera: the festival square puts you in the front row for our red carpet!
Grab your camera and rush to the red carpet at the Kinepolis: you might just run into your favourite celebrity!
Every day during Film Fest Gent, a multitude of stars grace our red carpet. Below you can find a complete list of all the VIPs scheduled to appear throughout the duration of the festival.
Film Fest Gent adds films by Terrence Malick, James Mangold and Taika Waititi to the programme. Film Fest Gent added three movies by film studio FOX (released in Belgium via The Walt Disney Company-Benelux starting in October) and they are sure to bring a solid addition to the programme. 'Jojo Rabbit' and 'A Hidden Life', two films tackling extreme ideologies and 'Le Mans '66', an economic race for glory based on real events.
On Sunday 13 October, the short film jury decides on the Award for Best Belgian Student Short, powered by Amplo and the Film Fest Gent Best International Short Award. But who is in our short film jury this year?
A film festival naturally includes an array of awards: on Wednesday 16 October, the international jury awards the Grand Prix for Best Film and the Georges Delerue Award for Best Soundtrack/Sound Design. But who is in our international jury this year?
On Friday, the 18th of October, Film Fest Gent will screen ‘The Mustang’, directed by Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre and starring Belgian favourite Matthias Schoenaerts, as its closing film.
After having released the names of the nominees for Best Original Song Written Directly for a Film, Best Film Composer of the Year and Best Television Composer of the Year, the World Soundtrack Academy announces a second wave of nominees for Best Original Score for a Belgian Production, Discovery of the Year, SABAM Award for the Most Original Composition by a Young International Composer and the Public Choice Award. For the 19th edition, The World Soundtrack Academy welcomes a remarkably diverse group of nominees, in background as well as training and medium.
'Tench' ('Muidhond') is a confronting film on a sensitive topic: paedophilia. This Belgian production will open the official competition of the 46th edition of Film Fest Gent. Ken Loach's latest feature film and a thrilling short by the Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos will also be screened -for the first time in Belgium - at the festival.
