Heard about the Flanders Film Festival in Ghent? October 26th Flanders Film Festival 5-16 October 1999 © Cultural Ambasador of Flanders, City Ambassador of Ghent photo: courtesy of MVSP Public Relations Have you heard about the Flanders Film Festival in Ghent, Belgium? The 26th edition begins on October 5th and lasts until the 16th. There will be 500 screenings of films from more than 40 countries. 15 Features will be in competition this time around for the category "The Impact of Music on Film." This Festival has become noted for its concentrated focus on the use of sound and music in film. Among the special events this year are a concert (October 7th) of music by 70-year-old Belgian composer Frederic Devreese, whose scores are most widely known from the films of Belgian director Andre Delvaux. Oscar winning composer Stephen Warbeck ("Shakespeare in Love," "My Son the Fanatic," etc.) and Elliot Goldenthal ("Interview with a Vampire," "Michael Collins," etc.) will not only be conducting this evening, but participating in a filmworkshop during the day. Two separate special divisions of the 1999 festival will focus respectively on Swedish film and past and present and Belgian film today. "Digiforum 3," whose theme is "life in a digital image society" will offer 20 lectures, explorations, demonstrations, and debates will take place from the 10th till the 15th of the month. Further information about the entire festival is available at www.filmfestival.be and www.expandedmedia.com/filmfestival The annual Dutch Film Festival in Utrecht, Holland, concluded its week of activities on the evening of October 1st with the announcement of the winners of the Golden Calves. Best Film was "Abeltje," the story of a boy who travels with the help of a flying elevator adapted from a children's book by the popular Dutch writer Annie M. G. Smit. Best Actor was awarded to Rijk de Gooijer, a noted member of the old garde from film, stage, and television, for his role in "Madelief" from the fantastic author of children's books Guus Kuijer. Best Actress went to Nadja Hupscher for her performance in "De Boekverfilming." Singer Karin Bloemen sang the ceremony in as well as out, but remarkably kept returning to the tune called "Amsterdam." This might have confused some viewers because, although the song was among those themes chosen from Dutch films, the ceremony was taking place in Utrecht. International Dutch stars Rutger Hauer and Jeroen Krabbe rode down the red carpet on a (slow) motorcycle, assumedly reminiscing about their days together in "The Soldier of Orange," before presenting the Best Film award for '99. A number of special awards were also handed out during the early days of the Festival. Among these were a Golden Calf honoring the "collected works" of producer Matthijs van Heiningen as well as one for the "Best Dutch Film of the Century" which went to "Turkish Delight" based on the book (definitely not meant for children) by Jan Wolkers. Interesting to consider that, during the making of this last mentioned film, producer Rob Houwer originally wanted to change the ending, but met with strong resistance from his co-workers at the time. I assume he no longer regrets the ending he finally accepted. Cinekid, the annual Dutch film festival for children, will be starting on Saturday, October 23rd and running through Sunday October 31st. The events, including new media, animation from Poland, TV toppers, will be in evidence in Amsterdam at the Balie Theatre and City Pathe Cinema, but the Festival will be taking place at a number of locations throughout the Netherlands. Further information is available at website www.cinekid.nl El Dia de Los Muertos may sound more like Mexico than Amsterdam, but on the weekend of October 30th and 31st, music (by Los Calaveras), film ("Macario"), and other activities may bring your shaking and shivering bones to life if you happen to drop by (please excuse the implication of the phrase) the Tropenmuseum. Sunday, of course, you can join in the Ofrendra. Who says there's nothing to do on Halloween in Amsterdam? Boo! © 1994-2006 The Green Hartnett