The 26th edition opened on Oct 5 and continued until Oct 16 in Ghent. Since 1985, this festival has adopted The Impact of Music on Film as its theme and this was the 15th year that Flanders has a competition section and awards the Best Film, Best Director and Best Music prizes. The only stipulation: these films must be non-musical films.
Other events: exhibition of Peter Greenaway's Artworks 63-69, a Digiforum examining the digital future of film, a concert featuring Stephen Warbeck (Shakespeare in Love), Eliott Goldenthal (Heat, Michael Collins) and Jean-Claude Petit (Cyrano de Bergerac).

On Saturday, October 16th 1999, the 26th Flanders International Film Festival - Ghent was officially closed during a ceremony at which the festival prizes and awards were announced, followed by the European premiere screening of Sydney Pollack’s Random Hearts at Decascoop. The screening was attended by director Sydney Pollack.

The festival, which opened on October 5th with the opening screening of Amos Gitai’s acclaimed film Kadosh, had a record attendance of over 88,000 spectators with a programme of some 200 features and 100 short films.

The festival welcomed numerous guests including jury members Jay L. Cooper, Robert Forster, Marion Hänsel, Danièle Heymann, Christopher Lee and Amanda Plummer.

Among the guests attending the festival were Sandra Bullock, Mike Figgis, Peter Greenaway, Amos Gitai, Irwin Winkler, Stanley Donen, Ettore Scola, Stefanie Sandrelli, Otar Iosseliani, Solveig Anspach, Eric Valli, Yesim Ustaoglu, Erci Mendelsohn, Veit Helmer, Kevin Brodie, Frédéric Fonteyne, Vincent Bal, Charles Matton, Bonnie Arnold, Raoul Ruiz, Mark & Michael Polish, Carl-Jan Colpaert, Jeremy Podeswa, Philippe Volter, Lukas Moodysson, Franco Dragone, and composers Stephen Warbeck, Elliot Goldenthal, Jean-Claude Petit and many others.

The festival finally focused on local film production with various programmes including a competition for Belgian short films and screenings of films made by Belgian filmmakers. Furthermore, the annual Joseph Plateau Prizes, Belgium's national film prizes, were distributed.

The 26th Flanders International Film Festival - Ghent presented 13 films in its official competition "The Impact of Music on Film" :
Agnes Browne - Anjelica Huston - Ireland
Drowning On Dry Land - Carl-Jan Colpaert - USA
The Five Senses - Jeremy Podeswa - Canada
Fucking Åmål (Show Me Love) - Lukas Moodysson - Sweden
Haut Les Coeurs - Solveig Anspach - France/Belgium
Himalaya, L'enfance D'un Chef - Eric Valli - France
Journey To The Sun (Günese Yolculuk) - Yesim Ustaoglu - Turkey
Judy Berlin - Eric Mendelssohn - USA
Miss Julie - Mike Figgis - UK
Ratcatcher - Lynne Ramsay - UK
Schpaaa! - Erik Poppe - Norway
Tuvalu - Veit Helmer - Germany
Wege In Die Nacht - Andreas Kleinert - Germany

The Awards

Grand Prize Of The Flemish Community: Himalaya - L'enfance D'un Chef By Eric Valli (France-UK-Switzerland)
The Flemish Community Prize for Best Director - Kinepolis Award: Haut Les Coeurs by Solveig Anspach (France-Belgium)
Georges Delerue Prize of The Flemish Community for Best Music or use of it - Canal + Award: Ratcatcher by Lynne Ramsay, Music by Rachel Portman (Scotland)
Special Jury Prize - for the music of :Himalaya - L'enfance D'un Chef by Eric Valli, Music by Bruno Coulais (France-UK-Switzerland)
Special Jury Mention - for the entire cast of: Haut Les Coeurs by Solveig Anspach (France-Belgium)
Best Belgian Short: Musique De Tables by Thierry De Mey
Sacd Prize for Best Script of Belgian Short: Ketchup by Manu Coeman and Ivan Goldschmid

Fipresci International Critics Award: Tuvalu by Veit Helmer (Germany)
Young Jury Award: Fucking Amal (Show Me Love) by Lukas Moodysson (Sweden)
Special Young Jury Mention: Following by Christopher Nolan (UK)
Audience Award: Himalaya - L'enfance D'un Chef by Eric Valli (France-UK-Switzerland)
Prize For The Best Flemish Short at the Festival Gabriel by Renaat Coppens

The 27th edition of the Flanders International Film Festival - Ghent is set for October 10th till 21th 2000.

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