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Film Fest Gent celebrates its 50th anniversary! Besides the treasure trove of 50 years of film screenings and international film talent that have passed through Ghent, our history is equally the sum of your most diverse experiences, impressions and perceptions of the past 49 festival years. Were you once a volunteer at the festival and do you have vivid memories of that time? Which film screenings have always stuck with you as a visitor or what are simply your best or most memorable festival memories? We would love it if you would share them with us.

At the 23rd edition of the World Soundtrack Awards - Film Fest Gent's annual film music awards - Italian composer Nicola Piovani will be awarded for his contribution to film music. The World Soundtrack Academy honours Piovani, best known to us for his Oscar-winning music for La vita è bella, with a Lifetime Achievement Award. The World Soundtrack Awards will be presented at the conclusion of Film Fest Gent 2023 during a ceremony and concert on Saturday 21 October.

Film Fest Gent presents the PRESS PLAY: Music in Games concert on Thursday 19 October 2023, which will bring music composed for video games to life. The music by, among others, composer Austin Wintory - known for award-winning games such as Journey, Abzû and Assassin's Creed Syndicate and who will also be hosting the concert - will be performed live by Brussels Philharmonic. Film Fest Gent is also launching a new international music award, one that celebrates the best original score for a video game and/or other interactive media: the WSA Game Music Award, a prize chosen by the public.

During the upcoming edition of the WSA Film Music Days (19 - 21 october 2023) Film Fest Gent will again organise the Belgian version of the Third Character initiative. This initiative is organised yearly in collaboration with MCM (Festival International Music & Cinema Marseille) and FIFF Namur (Festival International du Film Francophone de Namur). Directors and producers who are looking for a composer for their film project can rely on FFG, MCM and FIFF Namur to find a match with a suitable film music composer.

The recently deceased Ryuichi Sakamoto at age 71 was in 2016 the first Eastern composer who received the World Soundtrack Lifetime Achievement Award here in Ghent. He was born in Tokyo and learned to play the piano from since he was three years old. Not only was he a fan of Ludwig van Beethoven, Johann Sebastian Bach and Claude Debussy, but he also loved British rock music. Sakamoto just wasn't entirely sure if The Beatles and The Rolling Stones were British or American. Debussy's nationality was much clearer to him. He recognised Asian influences in the Frenchman's oeuvre, which influenced Sakamoto's own music. And so it came full circle. East and West, with Sakamoto they went hand in hand in a fascinating manner. Add in influences from genres such as electro, dance, ambient and ethnic music and a highly remarkable musical cocktail arises. That was served by the Yellow Magic Orchestra, of which he was one of the three members. And so he became a pop icon.

Composer Laurence Rosenthal is set to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 23rd edition of the World Soundtrack Awards, which takes place as the concluding event of Film Fest Gent on Saturday 21 October. The 50th edition of the festival crowns two grandmasters of the world of film music in its anniversary year. Earlier, it was announced that Italian composer Nicola Piovani will be a recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award as well.

Managing Director Marijke Vandebuerie and Programme Director Wim De Witte see 50 years of Film Fest Gent mainly as an invitation to glance ahead to the future.

In October 2023, Film Fest Gent - Belgium’s largest international film festival - will be celebrating its 50th anniversary edition. Entering a new era, the festival has unveiled its new branding, embracing the bold identity that has been its hallmark from the beginning.

For those who have been visiting the festival for many years, the horse of FFG has become a familiar icon, closely connected with film history and the history of the University of Ghent. With this in mind, the horse needed reinvention.