26/10/2020 - Sébastien Lifshitz’s documentary walked away with this year’s Grand Prize, courtesy of a jury led by Fabrice du Welz

Director Sébastien Lifshitz with his Grand Prix for Little Girl (© Film Fest Gent)

The 47th Film Fest Gent closed this weekend with the 20th edition of the World Soundtrack Awards and the allocation of the festival’s Grand Prize to Sébastien Lifshitz and his French film Little Girl [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sébastien Lifshitz
film profile]. Following on from Paloma Sermon-Daï’s triumph at the recent Namur Film Festival with Petit Samedi [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Paloma Sermon Daï
film profile] (read our news), this is the second time in recent weeks that a documentary film has won the Grand Prize at a Belgian film festival.

Presided over by Belgian filmmaker Fabrice du Welz, the jury explained its decision as follows: "Little Girl paints a wonderful portrait of a family fighting for the happiness of their little girl. The film exudes great humanity. It’s sincere without being sentimental, and it melted our hearts like no other film before it." Produced by Agat Films & Cie/Ex Nihilo (France), Arte France and Final Cut for Real (Denmark), the film will subsequently benefit from distribution aid for its Belgian release, which is scheduled for 6 January and will be steered by Imagine Film Distribution.

The jury assigned a further prize - the Georges Delerue Award for Music and Sound Design - to the Slovakian film Servants [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ivan Ostrochovský
film profile], which is directed by Ivan Ostrochovský and was discovered, much like Little Girl, during the recent Berlin Film Festival.

The Young Jury, meanwhile, bestowed its Explore Award upon the French film Gagarin [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Tr…
film profile], directed by Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh, which had already earned itself a Cannes 2020 label.

This weekend also played host to the 20th edition of the World Soundtrack Awards, which paid tribute to the work of Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir, who was named Discovery of the Year in Ghent two years ago for Sicario, and was further honoured this year for Joker, a film which also earned her an Oscar.

Equally memorable is the news that Belgian composer Hannes De Maeyer - known for his collaborations with Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah - scooped the Best Original Score for a Belgian Production trophy for his work on Sven Huybrechts’ Torpedo [+see also:
trailer
film profile].

Last but not least, the Lifetime Achievement Award was this year handed to the French-Lebanese composer Gabriel Yared.

The full list of winners is as follows:

Grand Prize
Little Girl [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sébastien Lifshitz
film profile] - Sébastien Lifshitz (France/Denmark)

George Delerue Award
Servants [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ivan Ostrochovský
film profile] - Ivan Ostrochovský (Slovakia/Romania/Czech Republic /Ireland)

Explore Award
Gagarin [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Tr…
film profile] - Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh (France)

Best International Short Film
Perpetual Night - Pedro Peralta (Portugal)

Best Belgian Student Film
Tussen de bijen en de tarbot - Linnea Lidegran Correia (Belgium)

World Soundtrack Awards

Film Composer of the Year
Hildur Guðnadóttir – Joker (US)

TV Composer of the Year
Nicholas Britell - Succession (Season 2) (US)

Best Original Song
“Stand Up” - Joshuah Brian Campbell & Cynthia Erivo, from Harriet (US)

Discovery of the Year 
Bryce Dessner - The Two Popes [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Fernando Meirelles
film profile] (US)

Best Original Score for a Belgian Production
Hannes De Maeyer - Torpedo [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Belgium)

SABAM Award for Best Original Composition by a Young Composer
Ana Kasrashvili (Georgia)

Public Choice Award
Alfonso G. Aguilar - Klaus [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Spain)

Lifetime Achievement Award
Gabriel Yared

(Translated from French)