In a welcoming audience to the editors of the 52nd edition of Ghent, the major Belgian film festival, which will be held from October 9-18, program director Wim De Witte emphasized that “finding oneself in a world where facts outweigh fiction.” He called out films such as Kaouther Ben Hania’s Venice Award-winning “The Voice of Hind Rajab” and Kateryna Gornostai’s “Timestamp” and “Essential Viewing” to say that “create space for sympathy and make the otherwise invisible visible.”
De Witte spoke with Variety ahead of this year’s edition, stressing that it was “important” to make such a statement, as in 2025. “It’s a complicated time for programming,” he says. “We want to sign the pledge of films for Palestine and be open about what we stand. Of course, we hope that these stories that we are in the spotlight may open up the eyes of people who probably don’t know what’s going on in the world.”
“Time Stamp”
Courtesy of Oleksandr Roshchyn
Asked if he was facing resistance from the wider local cultural community in dealing with such decisions, De Witte says that it wasn’t because the film festival has a long tradition of taking an open, honest political stance. “What we’re doing in Gaza now is similar to what we did in Ukraine. At that moment we decided not to invite a state-funded film from Russia. This is in the same position we are currently taking with Israel and we don’t invite a state-funded film.”
“I think some people might talk during the festival,” he adds. “Let’s see how it evolves. We want to be open and encourage people to speak up. By doing that ourselves, we want to create a safe space for people.”
Hundreds of films will be featured in the festival’s lively programme, from “Hunt” by Luka Guadanino, famous director of Kelly Reihardt’s “The Mastermind” and “Bagonia” by Yorgos Lantimos, to Big Festival hits with up-and-coming voices such as “Blue Winart” by Sophie Lombari’s “Blue Wine” by “Blue Wine” by “Blue Wine” by “Blue Wine” by “Blue Wine” by “Blue Wine” by “Blue Wine” by “Blue Wine” by “Blue Wine”. river. “
Homegrown Talent is also on display at Ghent, with Cato Kusters’ “Julian” holding the festival on October 8th. The gentle drama follows two women who fell in love like crazy and decided to marry in every country, marking the return of the director after winning “Finn’s Heel” in 2022, “Finn’s Heel” and then a Belgian student short. The same thing happened with “Felix Van Groningen (“Broken Circle Breakdown”), Lucas Donto (“Crows”), Adil El Albi and Bilal Fara (“Bad Boys for Life”).
“Julian”
Provided by Grade Solomon
Booking the festival is Harris Dickinson’s “Ulkin,” another feature debut of many in Ghent from the year. “As a festival, you’re always trying to find new ways to tell new voices and stories. At that moment, filmmakers can still experiment with more, so you often find these in the first feature,” says De Witte. “Ultin is a film I saw in Cannes and I was really impressed with how Harris tells this familiar story in a different way like this. We wanted it in the program to close the competition and festival.
Alongside the film and film music, the festival presents two famous Flemish TV series in Studiocanal’s six-part thriller “This Is a Murder Mystery,” awaiting a eager second season of audience favorite “Roomies.” Both series will premiere at the end of the year on Belgian public broadcaster VRT.
Wim de Witte
Courtesy of Film Fest Ghent
Looking at the past, Ghent will host an extensive retrospective of the work of famous British filmmaker Nicholas Log, curated by former program director Patrick Duinslager. The retrospective consists of 14 features, including Roeg’s work as cinematographer for François Truffaut’s “Fahrenheit 451,” as well as his major directorial hits in Roger Corman’s “Red Death’s Ass” and Not Look Now and The Witches.
“Duynslaegher is the encyclopedia of walking films here in Flanders,” says De Witte. “Before he took the festival he was one of Belgian major critics, and we worked with him to create a retrospective program. Patrick had wanted to do the program at ROEG for many years. Looking back at the program, there was something like “witch” as part of a young composer a few years ago, and at that stage, Patrick had already wanted to do a retro-shoe pes. ”
Inviting the director’s longtime contributor and ex-spouse Teresa Russell, throughout the section dedicated to ROEG, naturally came to the festival. The acclaimed actor is in town not only as a guest of honor for festival guests, but also as a ju umpire and as a winner of the Joseph Plateau Honorary Award.
Commenting on the role of festivals like Ghent today, DeWitte is pleased to see that despite the world’s massive changes since she first began working at festivals as an intern over 30 years ago, “there are still attracted to the fact that great movies are still being released and people are still looking big.”
“It might not be possible to see someone pointing out a new voice,” he added. “Our audiences consider themselves a guide to thousands of films released each year, and hopefully have the opportunity to meet filmmakers at festivals and continue the conversation outside the cinema.”
