Arts Centre Vooruit, Ghent, Belgium

Twelve days on the border between film, media art and music

Tue 9 until Sat 20 Oct 2007
Several halls

Read the Almost Cinema blog and view the festival in pictures

Vooruit programmer Eva DeGroote gives you an insider’s view of the Almost Cinema festival on her blog.
You can also view the photo, video and press report – new items will be uploaded in the course of the festival.

After last year’s success, Almost Cinema returns with a new edition. The 12-day festival, which is organised by Vooruit as a part of the Flanders Film Festival, Ghent, offers a unique view on the paper-thin line between film, media art, drama, dance and music.

Almost Cinema: the name speaks for itself: every artist present has been inspired by the world of cinema, but refuses to conform to its idiosyncrasies and walks new, unbeaten tracks.

Sand and Sorrow documentary + Rasha concert

Almost Cinema 07 kicks off with a heart-piercing documentary. In Sand and Sorrow , Paul Freedman brings the humanitarian crisis in Darfur to the screen. The result is a series of gripping interviews and disconcerting images.
Socially aware actor George Clooney narrates the documentary and is also its co-producer.
After Sand and Sorrow, Sudanese singer Rasha will take the stage. Rasha skilfully mixes traditional Sudanese sounds, Arabic poetry and reggae.

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Video and installation trail

Just like last year, Vooruit will be setting up a video and installation art trail which welcomes national as well as international artists. All of them will be offering you an amazing and surprising experience. Whether it’s computer controlled umbrellas, fictional documentaries or mashed up gangster movies. We’re sure that the festival will change your look on cinema for good!

The following media artists will be presenting their work:

Peter William Holden – Autogene
Gebhard Sengmüller – Slide Movie
Julia Willms – Passageway
Els van Riel – 5 screens
ZimmerFrei – Stereorama
Semiconductor – All the time in the world

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Performances

On top of that, we will be offering a platform to audiovisual performances. Volker Gerling will take us on a captivating journey with his enchanting stories and the accompanying flip books. Alexandra Bachzetsis and Yan Duyvendak will be dancing a tango which satirises Hollywood clichés. Belgian duo Tom Heene and Yacine Sebti will provide a very intimate experience with the installation Salt Lake.

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Music in pictures

Artists who work with audiovisual material and music are also placed in the spotlight. While Japanese Aki Onda makes the soundtrack to his own life, for which guitar virtuosos Noël Akchoté and Jean-François Pauvros will be providing the music, Zimmerfrei will be looking to the city of Ghent for inspiration. British Semiconductor will not only create an animated movie while you watch, but will also be bringing along a collage of unpolished pictures of the sun. Transforma and O.S.T. on the other hand, will be presenting a visual music film.

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Concerts: Herman Düne, Bajofondo Tango Club and Sigur Rós

During these twelve days, we will also be spoiling you with great music.
The anti folk band Herman Düne will make your feet move in the Vooruit Café. Argentinean Bajofondo Tango Club will do the same in the Concertzaal with a combination of catchy beats and traditional tango music. People who can’t get enough of sweet tango, can practise their moves at our Café Dansant , featuring Quinteto Astor and DJ Koen d’Hous. Make sure to bring your dancing feet!
Finally, the Icelandic band Sigur Rós will show its brand new documentary Heima and play a short acoustic set afterwards.

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Shorts

Here you will be able to enjoy a whole afternoon of promising talent in the world of short movies. In the evening, it’s award time. The winners of the Best Student Short and Best Belgian Short will be announced.

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Viva el populismo? El Ultimo Confin documentary + debate

Toestanden, Vooruit’s critical forum, connects with the Argentinean theme of the Film Festival.
We’ll be showing the documentary El Ultimo Confin , which talks about the desaparecidos, victims of the Argentinean military regime. Afterwards, Gie Goris, editor in chief of Mo Magazine, will be leading a debate about the political situation in South America.

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Uitgelezen: Music in literature

Uitgelezen , Vooruit’s book programme, will be presenting some very fine compositions indeed. This edition will be focussing on books in which music plays an important role. Apart from two regular panel members (Jos Geysels and Anna Luyten), host Fien Sabbe will also be welcoming two guest panel members: Francesca Vanthielen and Steve Stevaert. They will be discussing Frank Albers’s Beatland and Haruki Murakami’s Norwegian Wood.

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Conferences + FrictiesSalon, an informal talk about media art

What’s new this year is that we will be holding two conference days, with themes such as Immersion – The Art of the True Illusion and The Cinematic Experience, a conference organised in association with Interface (a new academic platform set up by KASK (Royal Academy fo Fine Arts, Ghent), Ghent University, Free University of Brussels & Utrecht University), Sint-Lukas Brussels & Transmedia.

The FrictiesSalon will be offering a seat to Daria Martin, an American video artist that is currently exhibiting her work in the SMAK (Ghent Museum for Contemporary Art). Nina Folkersma, the guest director in office of the SMAK, will be asking the questions.

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Guided tour of Vooruit

During Almost Cinema, there’s always something to do in the many halls and rooms of Vooruit. To make sure you don’t get lost, we will be organising a guided tour of the building . Know Vooruit’s façade but never really explored all of the building’s nooks and corners? Then sign up for a unique tour. You will be told the story of Vooruit in an interesting way, you will be offered complimentary drinks and you will be able to enjoy the video and installation trail for free.

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Closing party with Squadra Bossa feat. Buscemi and Livingstone

There’s no such thing as a festival without a good party! Squadra Bossa feat. Buscemi and Livingstone will be setting the dance floor on fire with fine tunes catchy beats until early in the morning.

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A Vooruit and Film Festival Ghent production

• www.filmfestival.be