While local buzz is mainly concerned with the Times bfi London Film Festival, we shouldn't forget that we're not the only country currently celebrating motion picture excellence. The 33rd Flanders FIlm Festival concluded this week at Ghent in Belgium with Ten Canoes by Rolf de Heer and Peter Djigirr walking off with the Grand Prize for Best Film - the first Australian full-length feature film in an Aboriginal language, fact fans.
Elsewhere in the festival, The Georges Delerue Prize for Best Music was won by Tony Gatlif and Delphine Mantoulet for the music of Tony Gatlif’s Transylvania. Slumming was awarded the SABAM Prize for Best Scenario .Aku Louhimies, director of the Finnish film Frozen City, was awarded the Robert Wise Award for Best Director.The international jury, chaired by longtime Stanley Kubrick producer Jan Harlan, announced the winners on Saturday evening. The ceremony was followed by a screening of the closing film Black Book attended by director Paul Verhoeven.
Earlier in the festival, the sixth annual World Soundtrack Awards saw a diverse array of international composing talents receive recognition. Spain’s Alberto Iglesias achieved the double-whammy of Composer of The Year and Soundtrack Of The Year with his score for Fernando Meirelles' The Constant Gardener.
Gustavo Santoalalla garnered The Public Choice Award for his haunting score for Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain. During the ceremony, Santoalalla made a surprise performace of the main theme from his Brokeback score, along with a tender rendition of the film’s main song “A Love That Will Never Grow Old”, originally performed by Emmylou Harris. Germany’s Peer Rabin, noted for his longtime collaboration with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, was honored with The Lifetime Achievement Award, while Evanthia Reboutsika was named as The Discovery Of The Year.
The Flemish Radio Orchestra, conducted by Dirk Brosse, enthralled the packed audience at Ghent’s Bijloke Concert Hall with suites of the film music of last year’s Discovery recipient Michael Giacchino, Peer Raben and local talent Piet Goddaer, while Guest of Honour John Powell joined the orchestra to perform dynamic cues from X-Men 3, Ice Age 2, Mr. & Mrs Smith and Two Weeks Notice.
Other highlights of the 33rd edition included a concert by Scottish composer Craig Armstrong, Darren Aronovsky’s presentation of The Fountain and an exhibition devoted to Stanley Kubrick, featuring a considerable array of materials from Kubrick’s personal archives.