FFG launches campaign Film Fest Gent 2024

In 2024, the festival will move its 10-day film festival up one day in the weekly calendar: where Film Fest Gent traditionally opened on a Tuesday evening and ran through to the second Saturday evening thereafter, the festival will now open on a Wednesday evening (Wednesday 9 October) and close on a Sunday evening (Sunday 20 October).

Kaiserpanorama & zoetrope

For the design of the new campaign, Film Fest Gent once again called on Antwerp-based creative agency Mutant. The campaign consists of both a new motion component and new colour combinations. The motion element refers to the spinning movement of a film reel and is based on two inventions from the pioneering days of cinema: the Kaiserpanorama and the zoetrope.

The Kaiserpanorama was conceived in 1880 by German inventor August Fuhrmann. The installation offered an early form of 3D imaging where people could take a seat on a large carousel to view different pictures. The use of stereo viewers and stereo photographs gave viewers the illusion of a 3D image.

Like the Kaiserpanorama, the zoetrope is shaped like a cylinder with slits or peepholes in it. Based on the phenakistiscope of Ghentian inventor Joseph Plateau, the zoetrope uses the stroboscopic principle where rotating the cylinder creates the illusion of a moving image.

These two inventions underpin the moving image as we know it today. The motion element in FFG2024's campaign is an abstract representation of these inventions and their common shape: the cylinder. It emphasises the movement of the two inventions, thus the design pays homage not only to the early days of cinema, but also to the contemporary nature of the festival and its commitment to bold cinema