Francophilia and Belgitude at the 41st Film Fest Gent
- The 41st Film Fest Gent will offer some pretty stiff competition, pay tribute to French cinema and host the premiere of The Loft, Erik Van Looy’s self-remake
The 41st Film Fest Gent will unspool from 14-25 October, and will host a competitive section (the jury of which will be chaired by American author Bret Easton Ellis) as well as a whole range of other sections, including a programme dedicated to French cinema, an impressive array of short films (both Belgian and international), myriad documentaries, an “Explore Zone”, and a number of selections dedicated to the depiction of artists (painters, authors, filmmakers) in film and, of course, to music. Indeed, the festival will also present the opportunity to hand out the World Soundtrack Awards on 25 October, for which none other than Hans Zimmer, Gabriel Yared, Alexandre Desplat, Arcade Fire and Pharrell Williams, among others, have received nominations.
Within the competition, we find three Belgian features: Waste Land [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pieter Van Hees
film profile] by Pieter Van Hees, produced by Epidemic and unveiled recently at Toronto; All yours [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
interview: David Lambert
film profile] by David Lambert, produced by FraKas and revealed at Karlovy Vary, where it garnered the Best Actor Award for the performance by Argentina’s Nahuel Perez Biscayar; and lastly Bas Devos’ Violet [+see also:
trailer
film profile], produced by Minds Meet and premiered at Berlin. Also selected for the competition are the French films The New Girlfriend [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: François Ozon
film profile] by François Ozon and Quentin Dupieux’s Reality [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], the Greek movie Stratos [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Yannis Economides
film profile] by Yannis Economides, Swedish production Force Majeure (Turist) [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ruben Östlund
film profile] by Ruben Östlund, and Hungary’s White God [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kornél Mundruczó
film profile] by Kornél Mundruczó.
The festival will kick off with a premiere screening of The Loft, Erik Van Looy’s US remake of his own film, Loft [+see also:
trailer
film profile], the biggest Belgian box-office hit of all time, which was released in 2008 and boasted a fine array of Flemish actors who are very well known in their country (Koen De Bouw, Koen De Graeve and Veerle Baetens). The US version stars Matthias Schoenaerts, a Flemish actor who is now gaining a growing international reputation (and is currently starring in The Drop, by his fellow countryman Michael Roskam). The film, which comes out in January next year in the United States, will be released in Belgium the day after its premiere.
(Translated from French)
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