Ten Canoes wins the 33rd edition of the Flanders International Film Festival - Ghent

Ten Canoes by Rolf de Heer and Peter Djigirr has won the Grand Prize for Best Film at the 33rd Flanders International Film Festival - Ghent. The international jury, under the chairmanship of Jan Harlan, announced the winner on Saturday evening. The ceremony was followed by a screening of the closing film Black Book in the presence of director Paul Verhoeven. The Festival was closed in style with a masked ball at Arts Centre Vooruit.

The jury consisted of producer Jan Harlan, director Ken Wardrop, author Michel Ciment, musician Jan Leyers, composer Cyril Morin, and Miguel Pereira, chairman of the International Film Festival of Mar del Plata, Argentina. They awarded four prizes: Best Film, Best Music, Best Director and Best Scenario.

The Grand Prize for Best Film this year went to Ten Canoes by Rolf de Heer and Peter Djigirr. Ten Canoes is the first Australian full-length feature film in an Aboriginal language. Earlier this year at the Cannes Film Festival, the film was given the Special Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard section. The Grand Prize for Best Film consists of a distribution premium of 20,000 €, intended to promote the release of the winning film in Flanders and Brussels (in at least five cinemas).

The Georges Delerue Prize for Best Music was won by Tony Gatlif and Delphine Mantoulet for the music of Tony Gatlif’s Transylvania. The distribution premium in this case was for the amount of 10,000 €, intended to promote the release of the winning film in Flanders and Brussels.

Slumming was awarded the SABAM Prize for Best Scenario. Michael Glawogger and Barbara Albert receive a distribution premium worth 10,000 €.

Aku Louhimies, director of the Finnish film Frozen City, was awarded the Robert Wise Award for Best Director (5,000 € distribution premium).

Renaud Callebaut, with his short film Kwiz, won first prize in the Prix UIP Ghent 2006 short film competition. Apart from 2,000 € in prize money, Nowak also received a nomination for the Prix UIP for Best European Short. He has the chance of winning 10,000 € in that competition.

During the 33rd Flanders International Film Festival - Ghent, several other prizes were awarded.

The youth jury awarded the Mine Xplore Award to Princess by Anders Morgenthaler, good for 10,000 € in the form of a distribution premium and a media campaign in the amount of 20,000 €.

The Belgian Short Film competition in collaboration with the National Lottery was won by Tanghi Argentini by Guido Thys. He was awarded 5,000 €. Honourable mentions went to Revolution by Xavier Diskeuve and L. by Vania Leturcq.

In the competition for Flemish Student Short Films, the ACE Prize for Best Flemish Student Short went to Nathalie Teirlinck with Anémone and Roman Klochkov with Administrators. They shared the 2,000 € cash premium and the 7,500 € post-production facilities. The jury also gave an honourable mention to Brod Ludaka by Matthias Lebeer.

The FNAC Public Prize will be announced on Monday October 23.

The 33rd edition of the Flanders International Film Festival - Ghent was a great success. More than 110.000 movie goers visited the festival, a rise of 6.000 visitors compared to the 2005 edition. The Flanders International Film Festival - Ghent once again proved what a hospitable Festival it is: this year, over 150 national and international guests attended, including Tom Tykwer, Darren Aronofsky and Paul Verhoeven.

With 234 films on the programme, the Festival guaranteed viewers a top-quality film selection. The musical events also thrilled audiences. The World Soundtrack Awards, the concert of film music performed by Craig Armstrong and the silent film Dans La Nuit with live music by Louis Sclavis were both particularly successful. Almost Cinema, the collaboration between the Flanders International Film Festival - Ghent and Arts Centre Vooruit, is certainly worth repeating. We are already looking forward to the 34th edition of the Flanders International Film Festival – Ghent, from 9 through 20 October 2007.