On October 11^th, the 49th Film Fest Gent in Belgium kicked off its official competition in unique fashion: the entire red carpet was covered with hundreds of colorful bouquets of flowers to celebrate Close, the new film by Lukas Dhont. The director, born and raised in Ghent, is no stranger to the festival. His worldwide critically acclaimed debut Girl was the festival’s opening film in 2018. His second feature Close won the Grand Jury Prize in Cannes last May and is Belgium’s submission to the 2023 Oscars.

This year’s festival’s eclectic competition consists of 118 feature films (Chromophobia/ Raoul Servias, Corsage/Maria Kreutzer, On the Fringe/Juan Diego Botto, Eyes of Darkness/Kawthar Ahmed, A Ghost Story/ David Lowery, Bones and All/Luca Guadagnino, to name a few.) In addition, 40 short films and 3 television series will be shown to audiences on the big screen. During the 11-day film festival (11 October to 22 October) curator and former artistic director Patrick Duynslaegher will show some Classics South Korean films, shot over the last 22 years and will dive into the history and richness of Korean cinema. An increased selection of short films from all over the world will also be presented to an audience of over 100,000 viewers.

The genius of cinema Jean-Luc Godard (who passed away on September 13) will live on during this 49th edition, as Film Fest Gent will honor the late iconic director and present two brand new works about him, À vendredi, Robinson (by Iranian Mitra Farahani) and Godard seul le cinéma (Cyril Leuthy).

Lastly, there would be no Film Fest Gent without the World Soundtrack Awards. For decades, the film fest has stayed true to their slogan “No great film can ever thrive without film music.” The creative collaboration between composers and filmmakers often leads to some of the greatest works shown on the big screen. This year, together with Creative Partnerships, the festival will highlight the inseparable duo of director David Lowery and composer Daniel Hart, whose film and music are often effortlessly interwoven in their ventures. Also put under the limelight are composer Johnny Jewel, world known Belgian editor Nico Leunen (who has worked with Ryan Gosling and Felix Van Groeningen) and Belgian director Fien Troch (Home).

On October 21, She Said by Maria Shrader, starring Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan as New York Times journalists in the dramatization of their 2017 groundbreaking Weinstein investigation, will be screened at the closing ceremony where the winners of the Grand Prix for Best Film and the George Delerue Award for Best Soundtrack and Sound Design will be announced.

On the following evening the World Soundtrack Awards will celebrate French composer Bruno Coulais (The Chorus, Caroline, The Crimson Rivers) with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Despite the alarming rising energy costs in Belgium, Film Fest Ghent has opted not to increase ticket prices in the hope to appeal to a large variety of movie goers.