Belgium's premier film festival, the Flanders International Film Festival (8-19 October), closed with a bang and a record. The bang was a closing night ceremony which presented the mainland Europe premiere of The Hunchback of Notre Dame at Ghent's Our Lady of Lourdes church, an extravaganza replete with dancers, fireworks and a special appearance by Quasimodo himself, albeit an actor dressed in appropriate Disney costume. The record was an attendance figure in excess of 70,000 spectators, beating all previous attendance numbers for the event.
'The programme was scaled down to 135 features and 90 shorts this year in order that the major emphasis could be placed on quality,' explained Walter Provo, programme director. From his selection Yoichi Higashi's Village of Dreams (Japan) picked up the Gilded Spur for best film. The Georges Delerue Prize for best music went to French composer Bruno Coulais for his work on Microcosmos. The jury decided unanimously not to award the Silver Spur for best director. The award for Best Belgian Short film was won by Lieven Debrauwer for Leonie and the Fipresci prize went to Taiwanese director Sylvia Chang for Siao Yu.
One of the key seminars at the festival addressed the improvement of co-operation between the European film promotion offices, such as Flanders Image, Catalan Films and the German Export Union, in overcoming the range of difficulties encountered in the marketing of domestic product internationally. Commented Martin Schweighofer, head of the Austrian Film Commission, 'I think we took a very necessary step towards greater gathering and exchange of information. This network for the easier promotion of films from the European countries is necessary and everybody can profit.' Nicholas Cunningham
