A wonderful Claudia Cardinale represents the festival through this edition’s poster. Patrick Duynslaegher, artistic director of Film Fest Gent, says that she is the perfect representation of Italian cinema, a theme that will be deepened in this edition of the festival with a full category on Italian cinema, like “Il colore nascosto delle cose“, also seen at Venice’s Festival. There will be Italian shorts, as well as features, about crime, abduction and punishment, and also love and passion. There is also going to be a retrospective on Italian political films from the Sixties and Seventies from directors like Vittorio De Sica and Ettore Scola.
The international jury for this year, who will award the Grand Prix for Best Film, Georges Delerue Award for Best Soundtrack and the Best European Short, will be directors Aurelio Grimaldi, Eytan Fox and Gust Van den Berghe, actresses Leila Hatami (Oscar winner ‘A Separation‘) and Greta Scacchi (Taviani’s ‘Good Morning Babilonia‘), actor Arnaud Valois (French Oscar nominee ‘120 battements par minute‘) and Juliane Lorenz (editor of many of Fassbinder’s work, ‘Berlin Alexanderplatz‘).
This year’s edition is going to be divided in seven trails, each of which characterized by a theme, like Kidsproof for the youngest fans, Explore Zone for young adults, and Plus Parcours for seniors; he recurring On the Edge, Docs and Belgian Cinema today, and the new trails Metamovies – for films that talk about cinema, that dig deep inside images – and Changemakers – films tha give a voice to the unheard.
After the prestigious film music award ceremony on the 18th October, Brussels Philarmonic will collaborate with the Brussel Jazz Orchestra for another concert that underlines the importance of jazz music for cinema. Always regarding music, Vooruit will be the meeting point for all other music events during the festival.
Cinema and music aren’t only recreational arts, but they also imply education and work. The Film Fest Gent organizes workshops, talks, educational screenings. Together with JEF, a nonprofit organization, the festival offers an educational approach to films for classes. There will be the Watch That Sound workshop, where young adults will get acquainted with music and sound in cinema. Ghent University will send its professors for morning sessions to analyse films after the screening and discuss on it. Also film criticism is deepened through workshops, video essays, round-table talks with Sabzian, Young Critics and Filmscalpel. Professionals from the industry world will be occupied with talks and seminars on soundtracks, and debates for filmmakers and showrunners.
Last but not least, there will be the possibility to support Cinemaximilian, a voluntary organization that organizes film screenings, debates and concerts for refugees. All profits will go to the organisation’s day-today operation.
