25/09/2003

The programme for the 30th Flanders International Film Festival, taking place at Gand from October 7 to 18, is filled with goodies. The opening film is by Erik Van Looy, De Zaak Alzheimer, based on the book by Jef Geeraerts, which will be presented as a world premiere, while Finding Nemo, the new Disney film, will close the event. There are around 10 quality films on the programme, sent in from around the world, and there will also be a series of prestigious guest appearances.

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The official competition for the Grand Prize for Best Film (€25,000) and the Georges Delerue prize for Best Music (€15,000), will feature films like Hero by Zhang Yimou, In America by Jim Sheridan, Kitchen Stories by Bent Hamer, Flower and Garnet by Keith Behrman, The Best of Youth by Marco Tullio Giordana and Distant Lights by Hans-Christian Schmid. The jury is led by the actress Jeanne Moreau, with other members including Ahmed Imamovic, Gaston Kaboré, Shekhar Kapur and the musicians Daan Stuyven and Stephen Warbeck.
In the “Festival previews” section the public can see premieres of films like Elephant by Gus Van Sant (Palme d'or at Cannes), Dirty Pretty Things by Stephen Frears, Calendar Girls by Nigel Cole, The Missing Half by Benoît Mariage, Les Lundis au soleil by Fernando Leon de Aranda, Uzak by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Le Tango des Rashevski by Sam Garbarski, His Brother by Patrice Chéreau, Thirtheen by Catherine Hardwicke, Intolerable Cruelty by Joel & Ethan Coen and a special screening of Freddy vs Jason by Ronny Yu. There will also be the chance to see the new film by Stijn Coninx, Verder dan de maan, which is the Belgium nomination going forward to the 2004 Oscars.

For its 30th birthday celebrations the festival is putting emphasis on the theme “The impact of music on cinema” with the screening of great classics of silent cinemas and the organisation of concerts by Nicola Piovani, Patrick Doyle, Hooverphonics and Klaus Badelt. Maurice Jarre will also be given a Lifetime Achievement Award WSA and there’ll be a presentation of the book “Moving Music”, with revelations from around 20 composers. The many invited guests include Michael Haneke, Patrice Chéreau, Bent Hamer, Jim Sheridan, Robert Englund and Peter Greenaway.

(Translated from French)