Nobel laureate Kip Thorne to headline DOCVILLE film festival

The international documentary film festival DOCVILLE in Leuven will host physicist Kip Thorne for its 20th edition, the festival announced on Monday. Thorne was awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on gravitational waves.

The US physicist will give a lecture on his work on gravitational waves. With two other physicists, Thorne provided evidence for the existence of these waves. As well as his lecture, he will alsobe co-presenting the documentary film The Faraway, Nearby. The film tells the story of Joseph Weber, who dedicated his life to the detection of gravitational waves but whose experiments were unsuccessful.

"We are incredibly honoured and delighted that Kip Thorne is willing to travel from Los Angeles to be part of our festival," said festival director Frank Moens. "Thorne is a great speaker, who knows the film world. We look forward to his arrival."

"We are incredibly honoured and delighted that Kip Thorne is willing to travel from Los Angeles to be part of our festival"

DOCVILLE is the only Belgian documentary festival that is "Oscar-qualifying": the film that wins the Jury Award for Best International Documentary is immediately placed on the Oscar longlist. The festival takes place in Leuven from 20 to 28 March. Thorne will be present on 22 and 23 March. The rest of the programme will be announced later.

^{#FlandersNewsService | American theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate Kip Thorne © PHOTO SAUL LOEB / AFP}