Edition 1995
In October 1984 Piet Goethals - having a passion for the medium of film - photographed for the first time directors, actors and actresses at the Flanders International Film Festival - Ghent. The photos of Michael Radford, Suzanne Hamilton, Freek De Jonghe, Robbe De Hert and Kurt Gloor he took that year were distant, as if the photographer did not dare to touch or address the interviewee. Being a film critic by profession he was able to establish a more personal contact with the 'makers' of his beloved medium. Photographing the more or lesser known 'star' has been easier since. The contact made by the interviewer later helped the photographer. Although watching films is still one of his great passions, he himself says that taking photos of film makers and their entourage is a less passive activity that keeps the dream of making a film one day alive. Making pictures of famous faces is indeed not always an obvious task. The motto 'the more famous, the less accessible' is often more maintained by the entourage and the press agents than by the 'star' itself. Making photographs of film stars therefore remains a real challenge. The challenge to make the one outstanding picture in less obvious circumstances. Time (varying from one second to one minute), the locations (hotels or impersonal conference rooms) and the available light do not leave much elbowroom. Piet Goethals therefore tries to make as much use of the surroundings as possible in order to avoid the predictability of a passport photo close-up. The swiftness with which such a photo is taken is very unlike that of a studio photo. This explains the journalistic aspect of the photographs.