The 43 Film Fest Gent started with the Belgian premiere of 'I, Daniel Blake', in attendance of director Ken Loach and leading actress Hayley Squires. Loach was awarded the Jozef Plateau Honorary Award before the screening. With this prize, the festival honors guests that made a special contributions to the art of film-making.
Special guests were Prince Laurent, the governor of East-Flanders Jan Briers, Flemish minister of Culture Sven Gatz and the mayor of Ghent Daniël Termont among others.
Because Film Fest Gent chose 'I, Daniel Blake’ as the opening film, the festival decided to collaborate with Kras vzw, an umbrella organization that unites 15 poverty organizations from Ghent, which makes Kras vzw an important player in the city's poverty policy. The profit that is collected during the festival will go to the activities of Kras vzw and the daily support of people that live in poverty.
During the upcoming 11 days, a great deal of directors and actors will drop by to present their film. Flemish directors Fien Troch, Kevin meul, Peter Monsaert, Jessica Woodworth & Peter Brosens, Johan Grimonprez, Kurt de Leijer, Nathalie Basteyns & Kaat Beels, Pascal Poissonnier and Bavo Defurne will pass the red carpet, as well as international film-makers such as Terence Davies, Olivier Assayas, Mark Rappaport, David Grieco, Mohamed Diab and Julie Ducournau. Film Fest Gent also welcomes a lot of Japanese and Scandinavian talent due to the festival's focus on Nordic Cinema and the Spotlight on Japan.
On 19 and 20 October, Film Fest Gent celebrates the 16th edition of the World Soundtrack Awards with central guest Ryuichi Sakamoto. Other important composers such as Jeff Beal, Jeff Russo, Daniel Pemberton, Alex Heffes, Sean Callery and John Lunn are attending the music event and the live performance of their scores. Tickets for the Gala event on 19 October are still available, the TV concert on 20 October is sold out.
Download cleared, high resolution images of the opening evening and other events on our website. Updates are done daily.
The 43rd Film Fest Gent runs from 11 to 21 October in Kinepolis Gent, Studio Skoop, Sphinx, Vooruit, KASKcinema and Capitole. You can find info and tickets on www.filmfestival.be