Sofia Coppola's 'Somewhere' is the closing film of the Ghent Film Festival
23 Sep 2010
The closing film for the 37th edition of the Ghent Film Festival is Somewhere. The film earned director Sofia Coppola the Golden Lion award at the last Venice Film Festival. When The Virgin Suicides was released in 1999, everyone realised that Sofia was a Coppola to be reckoned with. At 40, she has proven with Somewhere that the legendary family legacy is safe for a long time to come.
Like her most successful film to date, Lost in Translation, that won her an Oscar nomination for best director, Somewhere puts the finger on the painful wound of superficiality and the ensuing loneliness. Marco (Stephen Dorff) is a film star, but one who is bored to death and who takes his fame for granted. Glitter and glamour have turned him lacklustre. When his agent doesn't tell him what to do, he can think of nothing better to do than to lie in bed, drink beer, swallow drugs and gawp at the obligatory strippers. Until his ex-wife leaves their daughter Cleo (Elle Fanning) with him for a week. The young girl finally brings him back to life. But a week goes by very quickly when you're having fun.
It seems that she is well on her way to enjoy the same kind of success with this film as with The Virgin Suicides and above all Lost in Translation. At the last Venice Film Festival where the film was presented in world première, she left 23 competitors behind when she took the Golden Lion home with her.
The film is distributed by Alternative Films and will be showing in cinemas at the beginning of January.
Check out the full programme in the free issue of Knack Focus Special that will be distributed from 29 September in festival locations and via Fnac and the festival special issue that will appear on 5 October in De Standaard, Het Nieuwsblad and De Gentenaar.