Hellhole, FFG On Tour

Film Fest Gent On Tour

Every month Film Fest Gent lets you enjoy an avant-premiere in several theatres in Flanders and Brussels. FFG also produces a Wide Angle which zooms in on the film, its director and themes.
Bas Devos en Patrick Duynslaegher, FFG On Tour

Every third Tuesday of the month we leave our familiar city of Ghent and showcase the latest, most vibrant new films in locations across Flanders and Brussels. The film screenings of Film Fest Gent On Tour are preceded by a short introduction and take place in different film theatres and cultural centres.

A Different Man still

FFG On Tour - October 2024: A Different Man

Shapeshifting between different tones and genres, Aaron Schimberg's multi-layered and somewhat twisted A Different Man is a revisionist Beauty and the Beast story about a man whose face is transformed (into hunk Sebastian Stan) only to discover his fortune didn't take the hint. Bitingly funny and fearless in its execution, it's a reflexive psychodrama about much more than losing face.

In Aaron Schimberg's mischievous doppelgänger tale, a struggling New York actor with neurofibromatosis - a disease which has disfigured his face - gets entangled in a literal and figurative face-off. Edward, an introverted and awkward guy, lives in a damp apartment. Whenever he goes outside, strangers stare at him because of his condition. As far as acting gigs go, Edward doesn't get much further than corporate commercials. Until his face is transformed into that of hunk Sebastian Stan when he undergoes a radical medical procedure, enabling him to audition for the role he was born to play - only to be replaced by a confident, charming Brit with exactly the same condition Edward decided to cure. Shapeshifting just like its bitter protagonist, A Different Man begins as a meet-cute romcom but evolves through all sorts of twists and turns - navigating from Cronenberg to Kaufman - into an ironic satire about how we see ourselves, about the balance between representation and exploitation, and about how we can't shed the mask of our true self.

Tekengebied 102

FFG Wide Angle

For each On Tour film, Film Fest Gent provides a Wide Angle every month, in which we delve into the film, its director and themes (and more) by means of texts in various forms by various authors. (Texts are exclusively available in Dutch)

Past On Tour screenings

FFG On Tour | seizoen 2024

  • Soundtrack to a Coup d'État (Johan Grimonprez)

    Johan Grimonprez blends jazz, the CIA and the United Nations to create a swinging fusion in Soundtrack to a Coup d’État.

    Wide Angle

    • Review & Notes on director by Patrick Duynslaegher
    • Essay in collaboration with Fantômas
    • Videoessays in collaboration with Filmscalpel

    read the Wide Angle

  • May December (Todd Haynes)

    In Todd Haynes' dark and deliciously funny melodrama May December, Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman play a mysterious cat-and-mouse game of seduction, naivety and performance.

    Wide Angle

    • Review & Notes on director Todd Haynes by Patrick Duynslaegher
    • Essay in collaboration with Fantômas
    • Video essays curated by Filmscalpel

    read the Wide Angle

  • L'Empire (Bruno Dumont)

    After media satire France, Bruno Dumont, one of the enfants terribles of French cinema, is back with a with an absurdist science-fiction film that can only have sprung from the mind of the director of La vie de Jésus, P'tit Quinquin and Ma Loute.

    Wide Angle

    • Review & Notes on director Bruno Dumont by Patrick Duynslaegher
    • Essay in collaboration with Fantômas

    read the Wide Angle

  • Dream Scenario (Kristoffer Borgli)

    Sick of Myself director Kristoffer Borgli gives Nicolas Cage a dream role in his ingenious fantasy horror comedy.

    Wide Angle

    • Review & Notes on director by Patrick Duynslaegher
    • Essay in collaboration with Fantômas
    • Video essays in collaboration with Filmscalpel
    • Illustration by Lisa De Vriese and essay by Silke Bomberna (Cage of Wonders)

    read the Wide Angle

  • Golden Eighties (Chantal Akerman)

    Chantal Akerman ventures into the world of musical-comedies with this bubblegum pop filled film.

    Wide Angle

    read the Wide Angle

  • La Piscine (Jacques Deray)

    Jacques Deray explores the difficulties of love, ambition and teenage rebellion in the South of France.

    Wide Angle

    • Review & Notes on director by Patrick Duynslaegher
    • Essay in collaboration with Fantômas
    • Videoessays in collaboration with Filmscalpel

    read the Wide Angle

FFG On Tour | season 2023

  • Io capitano, Matteo Garrone

    In Io capitano, Gomorrah-director Matteo Garrone follows two Senegalese teenagers as they transit from Dakar to Sicily. A hallucinatory and chilling odyssey through the hopeful eyes of the young migrants, including the discovery of Seydou Sarr, who made his acting debut with this film. Both Garrone and Sarr were awarded at the Venice Film Festival.

  • Goodbye, Dragon Inn, Tsai Ming-liang

    From his debut feature Rebels of the Neon God (1992), Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang has been developing a quasi-documentary angle combined with slow, contemplative camerawork. Goodbye Dragon Inn (2003) is a melancholic film about the closure of a cinema in Taipei. Everything that, during a film screening, usually happens in the margins is now put under a magnifying glass. From the rattling of the film projector to the sweaty socks of the visitor next to you. Through all these details, the film celebrates the collective experience of watching a film.

    Wide Angle dossier

    • Tsai Ming-liang portrait by Patrick Duynslaegher
    • Essay by Michaël Van Remoortere in collaboration with Fantômas
    • Essay by Daphné De Weirt
    • Podcast hosted by Tim Maerschand in collaboration with Urgent.fm

    read the Wide Angle (only in Dutch)

  • Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, Jim Jarmusch

    Ever since the 1980s, Jim Jarmusch has been one of the flag bearers of American indie film. With his breakthrough film Stranger than Paradise (1984), a slow-paced road movie, he proved from the start that he had little interest in plot or action. Ghost Dog (1999), a mix of a samurai film and gangster epic accompanied by 90s hip-hop, is more accessible than his early work, but at the same time a typical Jarmusch characterised by long camera movements and a captivating protagonist.

    Wide Angle dossier

    • Jim Jarmusch portrait by Patrick Duynslaegher
    • A deep-dive in the soundtrack by Tim Maerschand

    read the Wide Angle (only in Dutch)

  • All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, Laura Poitras

    Laura Poitras already managed to build a solid reputation with her previous politically engaged documentaries, including My Country, My Country (2007) and Citizenfour (2014). With All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (2022), she shifts her lens to another artist, pioneering photographer Nan Goldin. Poitras portrays Goldin as an artist for whom her work is both a political weapon and a form of trauma treatment.

    Wide Angle dossier

    • Historical background by Patrick Duynslaegher
    • Essay by Bart Versteirt in collaboration with Fantômas
    • Essay by Shauni De Gussem
    • Podcast hosted by Bo Alfaro Decreton & Tim Maerschand - in collaboration with Urgent.fm
    • Video-essays about All the Beauty and the Bloodshed - curated by David Verdeure from Filmscalpel

    read the Wide Angle (only in Dutch)

  • La double vie de Véronique, Krzysztof Kieślowski

    In the 1970s, Kieślowski graduated from the Polish film school in Łódź (where Roman Polanski, among others, attended school) and started making documentaries. But it did not stop there: the Polish director switched to fiction and made deeply philosophical films about people's innermost thoughts and emotions. La double vie de Véronique, perhaps the highlight of his career, is about the mystical bond between the Polish Weronika and French Véronique.

    Wide Angle dossier

    • Essay by professor Polish literature Kris Van Heuckelom
    • Director Krysztof Kieślowski in context by Patrick Duynslaegher
    • Essay by Shauni De Gussem in collaboration with Fantômas
    • Podcast hosted by Bo Alfaro Decreton & Tim Maerschand - in collaboration with Urgent.fm
    • Video-essays about Kieślowski by Cristina Álvarez López and Adrian Martin - curated by David Verdeure from Filmscalpel

    read the Wide Angle (only in Dutch)

  • The Whale, Darren Aronofsky

    With The Whale, director Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream, Black Swan) pursues a phenomenal comeback for actor Brendan Fraser (Crash, The Mummy Trilogy). This heartwarming and heartbreaking drama portrays a father (Brendan Fraser), a reclusive teacher, trying to connect with his estranged teenage daughter, played by rising star Sadie Sink (Stranger Things). Expect a moving portrait of a man trying to give his life meaning once again.

    Wide Angle dossier

    • A portrait of Darren Aronofsky by Patrick Duynslaegher
    • Essay by Silke Bomberna
    • Essay by Michaël Van Remoortere - in collaboration with Fantômas
    • Podcast hosted by Bo Alfaro Decreton & Tim Maerschand - in collaboration with Urgent.fm
    • Video-essays about Darren Aronofsky - currated David Verdeure from Filmscalpel

    read the Wide Angle (only in Dutch)

  • Alcarràs, Carla Simón

    Felix Timmermans once wrote ‘I am just a poor farmer (...), yet farm life is the most beautiful life there is’. It's a challenge to prove him wrong after seeing the sun-drenched fields in the Catalan village of Alcarràs in Carla Simón's film of the same name. The Solé farming family, however, is in danger of losing its orchard and home after having grown peaches there for generations. In fact, Simón grew up there herself, with her uncle in a family of peach growers, and draws on her own childhood stories. Alcarràs, only the filmmaker's second full-length feature, won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival and is a summery, bittersweet portrait of a family - and with them an entire way of life.

    Wide Angle dossier

    • Review by Patrick Duynslaegher
    • Essay by Boet Meijers - in collaboration with Fantômas
    • Podcast hosted by Bo Alfaro Decreton & Tim Maerschand - in collaboration with Urgent.FM

    read the Wide Angle (only in Dutch)

FFG On Tour | season 2022

  • Un beau matin, Mia Hansen-Løve

    In her eighth feature, Mia Hansen-Løve directs star Léa Seydoux towards a very sensitive portrait of a young mother and widow who begins a passionate relationship with an old friend while trying to cope with her father who has a neurodegenerative disease.

    Wide Angle dossier

    • Context by Patrick Duynslaegher
    • Essay by Bart Versteirt - in collaboration with Fantômas
    • Review by Joséphine Vandekerckhove
    • Video-essays curated by David Verdeure - in collaboration with Filmscalpel.com
    • Podcast hosted by Bo Alfaro Decreton & Tim Maerschand - in collaboration with Urgent.FM

    read the Wide Angle (only in Dutch)

  • Triangle of Sadness, Ruben Östlund

    Triangle of Sadness is the latest satire from Swedish filmmaker Ruben Östlund, which earned him his second Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival in May. Like no other, Östlund dissects our cynical society founded on class differences and manages to make the elite feel uncomfortably in its privileged ivory tower. A frontal attack on our capitalist system and a Golden Palm winner that scrapes the gold leaf of our society.

    Wide Angle dossier

    • Essay by Alexander De Man
    • Essay by Bjorn Gabriels - in collaboration with Fantômas
    • Video-essays by David Verdeure - in collaboration with Filmscalpel.com
    • Podcast hosted by Bo Alfaro Decreton and Tim Maerschand - in collaboration with Urgent.FM
    • Interview with Ruben Östlund by Bo Alfaro Decreton

    read the Wide Angle (only in Dutch)

  • Il buco, Michelangelo Frammartino

    il buco (it) - the hole (eng)

    At first glance, the ‘hole’ in the title is little more than a hole in the ground. But in Michelangelo Frammartino's third film, underneath it we find the Abisso del Bifurto, at almost 700 meters one of the deepest caves in Europe. In 1961, a group of speleologists decided to map this cave in Cherciara di Calabria. It seems an unspectacular subject, but Frammartino - who has an eye for rural Italy - captured it in breathtaking images and made a balanced, minimalist film poem. And that is not an easy task in a cave whose walls have never been touched by daylight. Cinema in its purest form.

    Wide Angle dossier

    • Review by Patrick Duynslaegher
    • Essay by Anke Brouwers
    • Essay by Bjorn Gabriels - in collaboration with Fantômas
    • Video-essays by David Verdeure - in collaboration with Filmscalpel.com
    • Podcast hosted by Bo Alfaro Decreton and Tim Maerschand - in collaboration with Urgent.FM

    read the Wide Angle (only in Dutch)

  • Tokyo Story, Yasujiro Ozu

    In Yasujirō Ozu's Tokyo Story, retired Shukishi and Tomi Hirayama live in the Japanese countryside with their youngest, unmarried daughter. When they decide to visit their children in Tokyo and Osaka, the visit turns into a disappointment. Koichi and Shige turn out to be so busy with themselves and their own families that they have no time for their parents. Disillusioned, the couple travels back home. When Tomi falls ill on the way, it is the children's turn to make the long journey

    Wide Angle dossier

    • Review by Patrick Duynslaegher
    • Context by Tim Deschaumes
    • Personal essay by Bart Versteirt - in collaboration with Fantômas
    • Video-essay by David Verdeure - in collaboration with Filmscalpel.com
    • Podcast hosted by Bo Alfaro Decreton and Tim Maerschand - in collaboration with Urgent.FM

    read the Wide Angle (only in Dutch)

  • Vortex, Gaspar Noé

    After his delirious films full of sex, drugs and violence, Gaspar Noé surprises with Vortex, a film about love in times of dementia. And, taking the challenge even further, films this fading love story entirely in split screen.

    Wide Angle dossier

    • Review and context by Patrick Duynslaegher and Charlotte Timmermans
    • Literary essay by Inge Coolsaet - in collaboration with Fantômas
    • Essay about 'mind and body' in Noé's films, by Sven Hollebeke
    • Video-essay by David Verdeure - in collaboration with Filmscalpel.com
    • Podcast hosted by Bo Alfaro Decreton and Tim Maerschand - in collaboration with Urgent.FM

    read the Wide Angle (only in Dutch)

  • A Chiara, Jonas Carpignano

    After highlighting the lives of refugees and Roma in Calabria, director Jonas Carpignano concludes his trilogy on the southern Italian region with a portrait of a girl who discovers her father's double life.

    Wide Angle dossier

    • Review and context by Patrick Duynslaegher
    • Literary essay by Hanne Schelstraete - in collaboration with Fantômas
    • Video-essay by Chiara Grizzaffi and Astrid Ardent - in collaboration with Filmscalpel.com
    • Podcast hosted by Bo Alfaro Decreton and Tim Maerschand, including interview with Jonas Carpignano - in collaboration with Urgent.FM

    read the Wide Angle (only in Dutch)

  • Drive My Car, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi

    For February's On Tour, FFG is presenting Ryûsuke Hamaguchi's grandiose masterpiece Drive My Car. The film was overwhelmed with praise in Cannes, where it also won the award for best screenplay. Based on a short story by Haruki Murakami, Drive My Car follows a theatre actor and director who agrees to perform a play in Hiroshima. For the occasion, he is assigned a young female driver who keeps mostly quiet.

    Wide Angle dossier

    • Review and context by Patrick Duynslaegher
    • Murakami & Hamaguchi - Luk Van Haute
    • Literary essay by Michaël van Remoortere - in collaboration with Fantômas
    • Podcast hosted by Bo Alfaro Decreton and Tim Maerschand - in collaboration with Urgent.FM

    read the Wide Angle (only in Dutch)

These are the participating cinemas for FFG On Tour

  • Studio Skoop

    Studio Skoop
    Sint-Annaplein 63
    9000 Gent
    studioskoop.be

  • Sphinx Cinema

    Sphinx Cinema
    Sint-Michielsbrug 3
    9000 Gent
    sphinx-cinema.be

  • Studio Geel

    Studio Geel
    Werft 1
    2440 Geel
    studio-geel.be

  • The Roxy Theatre

    The Roxy Theatre
    Pieter Vanhoudtstraat 39
    3582 Beringen
    theroxytheatre.be

  • Cinema ZED

    Cinema ZED
    Andreas Vesaliusstraat 9C
    3000 Leuven
    cinemazed.be

  • CC Binder

    CC Binder
    Forum 9
    2870 Puurs
    ccbinder.be

  • Flagey

    Flagey
    Place Sainte-Croix
    1050 Brussel
    flagey.be

  • CC Jan Tervaert

    CC Jan Tervaert
    Kaaiplein 34
    9220 Hamme
    jantervaert.be

  • CC Evergem - Cinema Westside

    CC Evergem - Cinema Westside
    Weststraat 31
    9940 Evergem
    cultuurcentrumevergem.be

  • CC Zoetegem

    CC Zoetegem
    Hospitaalstraat 18
    9620 Zottegem
    cczoetegem.be

  • CC Ter Dilft

    CC Ter Dilft
    Sint-Amandsesteenweg 41-43
    2880 Bornem
    terdilft.be

  • Leietheater

    Leietheater
    Brielstraat 8
    9800 Deinze
    leietheater.be

  • Netwerk Aalst

    Netwerk Aalst
    Houtkaai 15
    9300 Aalst
    netwerkaalst.be

  • Cinema Lumière Antwerpen

    Cinema Lumière Antwerpen
    Lakenstraat 14
    2000 Antwerpen
    lumiere-antwerpen.be

  • Cinema Lumière Brugge

    Cinema Lumière
    Sint-Jacobsstraat 36
    8000 Brugge
    lumierecinema.be

  • Cinema Lumière Mechelen

    Cinema Lumière Mechelen
    Frederik de Merodestraat 28
    2800 Mechelen
    lumiere-mechelen.be

  • Cinema Cartoon's Antwerpen

    Cinema Cartoon's
    Kaasstraat 4/6
    2000 Antwerpen
    cinemacartoons.be