Fien Troch to open Ghent film festival with premiere of Holly

Belgian filmmaker Fien Troch will premiere her latest feature, Holly, on 10 October at the 50th edition of Film Fest Ghent, the organisation announced on Tuesday. This will be the third year in a row that the festival has selected a Belgian film to open after premiering Closer and La Civil in previous editions.

Seven years ago in Ghent, Troch won the Georges Delerue Award for Best Music with her film Home. Her feature debut, Een ander zijn geluk and its successors, Unspoken and Kid, have already been included in the programme, as have two of her short films.

Troch's latest film, Holly, tells the story of a 15-year-old girl who predicted a deadly school fire. The film was also selected to compete in the Venice International Film Festival. Holly will play in Belgian cinemas from 22 November.

Newcomer Cathalina Geeraerts plays the title role alongside Felix Heremans, Greet Verstraete, Els Deceukelier, Serdi Faki Alici and Robbie Cleiren. As with Home, Troch worked with Frank van den Eeden and Nico Leunen for photography and editing.

"The festival has always welcomed us warmly with my previous films, and I am extremely happy that we will open the 50th edition with this one. We will definitely make it a big party," Troch said.

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