Oscar nominee Andy García to receive Honorary Award

Oscar nominee Andy García is well known for his performances in such acclaimed films as The Godfather: Part III (for which he received and Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Vincent Mancini) Brian de Palma's The Untouchables, Mike Figgis' Internal Affairs and When a Man Loves a Woman playing opposite Meg Ryan. More recently, he has starred in Ocean's Eleven and its sequels, Ocean's Twelve and Ocean's Thirteen. His latest film is the drama City Island, which he also produced and stars in, will have its Benelux premiere at the Ghent International Film Festival on October 16th. The Joseph Plateau Honorary Award, the festival's highest honor, has been previously presented to some of the industry's top international stars including Morgan Freeman, Jean Reno, Jeanne Moreau, Juliette Binoche, Vanessa Redgrave and Sir Peter Ustinov, as well as filmmakers Richard D. Zanuck and Lili Fini Zanuck, Roy E. Disney, Sydney Pollack, Sir David Puttnam, Irwin Winkler, Robert Altman, Stanley Donen, Lord Richard Attenborough, Mike Leigh, Walter & Laurie Parkes, Alain Resnais and Bertrand Tavernier, among others. The festival will also host four lavish live concerts which this year will feature performances by 3-time Oscar winner Marvin Hamlisch (October 17th) Golden Globe winning French composer Alexandre Desplat (October 14th and October 17th), Marc Streitenfeld (October 17th) and Japanese composer Shigeru Umebayashi (October 15th). On October 17th the festival will conclude with the 9th World Soundtrack Awards, where awards will be presented in 5 categories. This year's nominees include Carter Burwell, Alexandre Desplat, Danny Elfman and Michael Giacchino among others. Other VIPs appearing at this year's festival include Creation director Jon Amiel, filmmaker Wang Quan'an and actress Yu Nan fitting in nicely with the festival's theme of "Asia." The festival will also pay tribute to Japanese Anime art, film and director Hayao Miyazaki with a special state of the art exhibition of Anime! High Art - Pop Culture, at the Caermers Convent in Ghent from October 9, 2009 - January 10, 2010. Hundreds of original drawings, 3D models and film clips will be on display.