Film Fest Gent welcomes Alan Silvestri, not only as one of the most brilliant film composers of his generation, but also as this year’s guest of honour. Although Silvestri has managed to write successful scores for films that were able to exist on their own, his name remains associated with some of the most popular films of the last decades: Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and Forrest Gump. Three titles that are not coincidentally all directed by Robert Zemeckis. A rather unique collaboration in film history, which forms the focus of the concert. His scores, along with those of Patrick Doyle, Daniel Pemberton, and others, are performed by Brussels Philharmonic and The Flemish Radio Choir and directed by maestro Dirk Brossé.
Following the festival’s focus on British Cinema, Patrick Doyle receives the Lifetime Achievement Award. The immensely versatile Doyle enriched the films by Robert Altman, Ang Lee, Chen Kaige, Alfonso Cuarón and Brian DePalma with his alternating tragic, noble, triumphant and romantic compositions. With his work on blockbusters such as Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and more recently Cinderella, he certainly proved his talent working on spectacular Hollywood films.
Film Fest Gent also welcomes back Daniel Pemberton, winner of the 2014 Discovery Award, as one of its guests. The British composer was awarded for his scores: The Counselor by Ridley Scott and Cuban Fury by James Griffiths. Pemberton was only sixteen when he began composing in 1994 and now has 103 credits to his name, largely owed to the numerous TV series (Desperate Romantics, Occupation), mini series (Upstairs Downstairs, The Games), TV docs, television movies and games for which he provided the music. It has only been in these last couple of years that he focuses on feature films, such as The Man from UNCLE by Guy Ritchie as one of his recent major works.