19.05.26, 20:30, To Sleep as to Dream (1986)
Join us in discovering this enchanting gem from the Japanese underground cinema scene. A former star from the silent film era enlists the help of a private detective and his assistant to track down her kidnapped daughter. Soon, the trio finds itself in a labyrinth of obscure clues and archetypal villains. What follows is a game of cat and mouse in which the boundaries between the harsh underworld of the 1950s and the silent film world of the 1920s blur. Reality and illusion merge in a haze of waking dreams, where magic, metafiction and mystery set the tone.
With no formal film training but a deep reverence for film history, the independent Japanese director Kaizô Hayashi made his debut in 1986 with this utterly unique ode to hard-boiled detective stories, old Tokyo and the mythical past of cinema. It was only years later, thanks to crowdfunding, that this film was rediscovered as a long-forgotten dream. To Sleep So as to Dream feels as though a lost romantic, a kindred spirit of Guy Maddin and Bi Gan, has conjured his vision directly onto celluloid.
This screening will be introduced by Kuleshov dreamer Tim Maerschand.
i.c.w. Film-Plateau
Cloquet
Godshuizenlaan 4
9000 Gent
Goodbye Julia (2023), KASKcinemafilmAgendaArtistic activitiesMona, a retired singer from Northern Sudan, harbours a heavy secret concerning a covered-up murder. Driven by guilt, she takes in Julia, the victim’s South Sudanese widow, and her son.
As the political conflict in Sudan escalates, social divisions deepen. This political unrest seeps into the daily lives of the two women and forces Mona to confront her sins. Through a provocative and allegorical exploration of the complex Sudanese situation, Goodbye Julia invites the viewer to reflect on urgent issues. Rather than answers, this melodrama with thriller elements offers the viewer only questions. Is coexistence without justice even possible?
Director Mohamed Kordofani made his film debut with Goodbye Julia. Sudanese cinema has a long history, but the colonial political situation brought the country’s film production to a virtual standstill. With this film, Kordofani has reignited the spark.
This screening will be introduced by PhD researcher Sarra Khlifi.
i.c.w. Film-Plateau
Cloquet
Godshuizenlaan 4
9000 Gent
An Anthology of (Auto)Censorship (2024), KASKcinemafilmAgendaArtistic activitiesIn today’s Istanbul, where the shadow of censorship and oppression is growing ever longer, eight filmmakers have joined forces under the banner of Altyazı Fasikül: Free Cinema. Together, they paint a portrait of a country where critical voices are systematically silenced.
This anthology film brings together six short works, each of which exposes the mechanisms of censorship in its own way. As legal cases against critical artists pile up, self-censorship often proves to be the most effective form of oppression. The short documentaries range from deadly serious to ironic and incisive, linked by a common thread: how do we keep the hope of protest alive in an age where every critical gaze carries risks?
Through Zoom calls, cryptic security footage and dreamlike night-time shots of forbidden places, the filmmakers demonstrate how self-censorship works. They show how ideas and stories, even before they take shape, disappear into a folder labelled ‘forgotten projects’. See Unseen is not only an indictment of repression, but also a testament to the will to continue speaking out and taking action despite everything.
The screening will be followed by a Q&A with filmmakers Firat Yücel and Sibil Çekmen.
Cloquet
Godshuizenlaan 4
9000 Gent
Mirch Masala (1987), KASKcinemafilmAgendaArtistic activitiesIn a parched village in Gujarat, somewhere in the early 1940s in British colonial India, the landscape is tinged red with dust and ground chillies. Here works the fearless Sonbai, whose refusal to submit sparks a rebellion. When a corrupt tax collector sets his sights on her, Sonbai refuses to be treated as property. Her slap in his face is not only an act of personal defiance, but also the beginning of a collective struggle.
What follows is an escalating power struggle that divides the village. Whilst male village leaders vacillate between fear and opportunism, Sonbai and the other women seek refuge in the factory. Behind its thick walls, they engage in conversations about sex, love and freedom that contrast with the hypocrisy of the men, who place honour and property above all else.
Director Ketan Mehta weaves a gripping village drama with sharp criticism of patriarchal power, caste hierarchy and colonial oppression. Carried by actress Smita Patil, the film unfolds as a passionate parable of resistance in which women, armed with chilli peppers and stubbornness, decide to fight back.
i.c.w. Cinea
Cloquet
Godshuizenlaan 4
9000 Gent
KIDScinema, KASKcinemafilmAgendaArtistic activitiesCrawling and burrowing creatures – discover the world beneath your feet.
Cinema for our youngest cinema-goers! Parents and children aged 4 and over are welcome to this screening, where we’ll be showing a varied and original selection of short films.
The Epic of Everest (1924), KASKcinemafilmconcertAgendaArtistic activitiesJoin us on a journey through one of the most heart-wrenching adventures in film history: the official account of the gruelling 1924 Everest expedition. John Noel, a 23-year-old mountaineering veteran armed with a camera, filmed George Mallory and Sandy Irvine as they ventured towards the summit. Whilst the two climbers pressed on, Noel remained behind at Camp 3, helplessly following their progress through his telephoto lens. He would, however, prove to be the sole survivor of the mission.
Noel, himself a passionate climber, set new standards for documentary filmmaking with this film. As a 23-year-old veteran, he had secretly come closer to the mountain than any other foreigner, until Tibetan soldiers sent him back. The result is a haunting portrait of human ambition, layered through stages of pain and triumph. The question with which he concludes The Epic of Everest: “If you had lived as they did, and died in the heart of nature, could you wish for a more beautiful grave?”
This screening takes place to mark the publication of the book Schijnwereld: filmkritieken 1919-1935 by Joseph Roth. Editor Steven Jacobs will introduce the film with a short talk on Roth’s film criticism and his views on the film.
With live piano accompaniment by Tom Van der Schueren.
i.s.m. Film-Plateau
Cloquet
Godshuizenlaan 4
9000 Gent
Voci Nel Tempo (1996), KASKcinemafilmAgendaArtistic activitiesFeel the wind in your hair and the sun on your face; Kinoautomat sweeps you into summer with this visually stunning cinematic dream.
Voci Nel Tempo (Voices Through Time) is one of the unsung masterpieces by Italian filmmaker Franco Piavoli. Virtually devoid of dialogue, the film explores the human condition through a series of actions, glances and landscapes. As the seasons pass in a sleepy Lombard village, life unfolds. Farmers plough the land, young couples chat, and preparations are made for the annual village festival. By focusing on small moments of everyday beauty and struggle, Piavoli succeeds in finding a timeless quality within the village’s microcosm.
Our guest speaker will present an anthology on wordless cinema. Whilst in early cinema characters were silenced by technical limitations, contemporary filmmakers continue to draw on the haunting beauty of silence. Piavoli’s observational films thus build upon a lost visual language to rediscover a form of resignation.
This screening will be introduced by Kleo Van Ostade.
i.c.w. Kinoautomat & FC Dollyshot
Cloquet
Godshuizenlaan 4
9000 Gent
So Is This? (1982), Text II (1964), KASKcinemafilmAgendaArtistic activitiesCredits and intertitles are a common yet often overlooked aspect of the film medium. Although typography plays an essential role in shaping a film’s aesthetic and informative elements, this craft is all too easily overlooked. To celebrate the publication of the book Read Frame Type Film: Written on the Screen (2025), we are joining forces with the Centre Pompidou and the Graphic Design Department at KASK & Conservatorium to celebrate the extra-textual aspects of the film title. Using two films, the exhibition explores, through tactile 16mm, how the world of letters engages in dialogue with the visual.
In Michael Snow’s So is This? each shot appears to consist of a white word set against a stark black background. Playing with viewing expectations, the filmmaker constructs, word by word, sentence by sentence, a discourse on the linguistic limits of cinema. Snow’s formalist poetry finds a counterpart in Text II. Here, Marc Adrian weaves typographic structures into a visual arrangement where syllables and their meaning are constantly challenged in formal terms.
Following the screening, we will be in conversation with authors Enrico Camporesi and Philippe Millot (Centre Pompidou) about the publication of their book project.
Cloquet
Godshuizenlaan 4
9000 Gent
Funeral Parade of Roses (1969), KASKcinemafilmAgendaArtistic activitiesFilm-Plateau transports you to the bustling, hallucinatory Shinjuku of the 1960s, where Toshio Matsumoto ignited the Japanese New Wave with Funeral Parade of Roses. In one of the earliest, most radical queer films from East Asia, Toshio Matsumoto blends documentary, avant-garde montage and playful metafiction into a thrilling portrait of the ‘gay boy’ subculture, where labels such as ‘drag’, ‘gay’ or ‘trans’ were still fluid. With his keen eye for the fringes of society, Matsumoto reveals not only the glamour but also the grim reality behind the glittering facades of Shinjuku’s nightlife.
This loose adaptation of the Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex follows Eddie, a gender-nonconforming hostess trying to navigate a city that both celebrates and rejects her. This leads to a psychosexual awakening and numerous romantic rivalries. No exoticising gaze, but an invitation to step inside Eddie’s mind. There we are introduced to her desires, traumas and gender euphoria. With echoes of Derek Jarman, yet entirely unique in its queer rebellion, Funeral Parade of Roses is a poetic sledgehammer blow that still tingles and provokes.
This screening will be introduced by Japan-Square organiser Floor Meesen
i.c.w. Film-Plateau
Cloquet
Godshuizenlaan 4
9000 Gent
Danger: Diabolik (1968), KASKcinemafilmAgendaArtistic activitiesWeird Wednesday packs her suitcase for an unparalleled campy crime caper. Forget James Bond and open your heart to Diabolik: a master thief who conquers the underworld in tight latex. Accompanied by his girlfriend Eva Kant and armed with an arsenal of high-tech gadgets, this suave super-criminal plans a series of stunning heists that leave many a law enforcement officer eating their hat. When his eye falls on a substantial hoard of gold, however, our anti-hero faces a challenge that pushes his cunning to the limit.
It comes as no surprise that Danger: Diabolik sprang from the mind of giallo master Mario Bava. Based on Italian comic books and silent-era villains such as Fantomas and Irma Vep, the film is Bava’s ode to the poetry of pulp. Danger: Diabolik strings together a series of stylistic sensations that will make your eyes pop with visual fireworks. Like a pop art explosion, the film blazes with psychedelic visuals and absurdist daring, all set to a roaring pop soundtrack by Ennio Morricone. A devilish treat to round off the season.
This screening is preceded by the short film CHLORINE by Zayd Hamzane.
Cloquet
Godshuizenlaan 4
9000 Gent
Dream and the Radio (2022), KASKcinemafilmAgendaArtistic activitiesIn the Montréal metro, Raoul and Béatrice’s eyes meet, and suddenly the city seems to shift ever so slightly. He is a rock star activist with grand plans; she is a nocturnal flâneuse who hands out books to the homeless. Every Thursday evening, Béatrice meets up with her friends Constance and Eugène to dream aloud of a poetic uprising. Constance broadcasts politically charged sound art via an independent radio station, and Eugène has been writing a novel for years that never seems to be finished. When Raoul appears in their world, their small circle suddenly begins to resonate with grander revolutionary fantasies.
This hypnotic, fragmentary ode to resistance hovers between essay, fiction and daydream, imbued with the spirit of Godard and Debord. Film, video, archive footage and glitching phone screens intertwine. Playing with the boundaries between fiction and autobiography, between activism and performance, the characters and the city itself slowly begin to awaken from their apathy, ready for a revolution that might spring from books, sound waves and a handful of friends in a dark room.
This screening will be introduced by filmmaker Émilien Dubuc and preceded by the 16mm short film La Plage (1991).
Cloquet
Godshuizenlaan 4
9000 Gent
Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin, Club Telex, KASKcinemaconcertAgendaArtistic activitiesTo give the screening of Celtic Utopia at KASKCinema an extra musical touch, we’re bringing Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin to Ghent. Eoghan is a folk artist and political activist whose songs—full of both heartache and joy—have won over plenty of listeners. After playing in bands like Skipper’s Alley, One Tongue, and Jiggy, he released his solo debut The Deepest Breath in 2022.
His music moves effortlessly between warmth and political edge, with songs about things like the grip of capitalism, sung in both English and Irish. He blends modern themes with a rich, tradition-inspired sound, giving it a fresh twist. His voice is something special too—deep and hypnotic, rooted in the old Sean-nós singing style, and capable of pulling you into a kind of trance.
All in all, Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin is a standout voice in Irish folk and definitely worth checking out.
Paddenhoek 12
9000 Gent
Celtic Utopia (2025), KASKcinemafilmAgendaArtistic activitiesAlthough Ireland has been independent from the United Kingdom for over a century, its colonial past continues to haunt the country’s streets and melodies. Driven by a stubborn determination, a young generation of musicians is turning to folk music “to strike fear into the hearts of priests and politicians”. Proud of their language and nationality, they are reviving old ballads and bringing them unflinchingly into the present day.
A journey across the island follows a motley crew of pierced punks, rappers, ravers and folk singers who find common ground in raucous jam sessions and shared indignation. Groups such as The Mary Wallopers, The Deadlians and Lankum make their voices heard and pass the story on to one another as the film progresses — just as the melody is passed on in a traditional music session. In a ballad that swings back and forth between archive footage and contemporary anger, Celtic Utopia forms a quest for the past, identity and the possibility of healing old wounds through song. What emerges is an Ireland that reinvents itself through a delicate dance with the past.
The screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Dennis Harvey.
i.c.w. the Irish film festival Scéal Eile
Cloquet
Godshuizenlaan 4
9000 Gent
Twinless (2025), KASKcinemafilmAgendaArtistic activitiesWhen Roman loses his twin brother in a car crash, his world falls apart. At his wits’ end, he decides to join a support group for grieving twins. There he meets the charming Dennis, a lonely twin who is grappling with his own traumas. Through their shared loss, the two men grow closer and become entangled in a co-dependent dynamic that blurs the boundaries of their identities. Twinless begins as a queer buddy comedy, but gradually takes on more surreal and sinister forms. In their search for fulfilment, the hall of mirrors of projections the two men have created for one another begins to feel increasingly like a labyrinth.
With this second feature film, emerging indie talent James Sweeney proves that his name is one to remember. Themes such as grief, loneliness and queer longing are explored here with sharp humour, yet with the necessary sincerity. The absurdism of the script sits so beautifully in tandem with the vulnerability of the flesh-and-blood characters. Cultural references such as The Parent Trap (1998) and The Sims (2000) also bathe the film in millennial melancholy.
Lookalikes dressed in the same style can attend the screening for free
This screening will be preceded by the short film Met Hoop op een Nieuwe Rol by Thieu Kessels.
Cloquet
Godshuizenlaan 4
9000 Gent
Viridiana (1961), KASKcinemafilmAgendaArtistic activitiesJust before the Easter holidays, we would like to present you with another controversial Spanish classic from the oeuvre of Luis Buñuel. After a long period of exile in Mexico, the scandalous director returned to Spain to make Viridiana. Viridiana, played by the famous Mexican actress Silvia Pinal, is an unworldly nun who has to go and live with her uncle. While avoiding his advances, she tries to save the souls of the homeless people living nearby. Buñuel, always an opponent of religious self-righteousness, shows the naivety of the sister in her attempts to save the world through Christian morality.
Viridiana was banned by Franco's dictatorial government and by the powerful Vatican, labelled “blasphemous”. In one of the film's most notorious scenes, a drunken banquet freezes into a scene that cynically depicts Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece The Last Supper as a childish food fight. At its premiere, Viridiana was spat upon by petty bourgeois minds, but precisely for that reason it was also greedily savoured and awarded the Palme d'Or in 1961. Have a blissful Easter!
This film will be introduced by film history teacher Daniël Biltereyst.
i.c.w. Film-Plateau
Cloquet
Godshuizenlaan 4
9000 Gent
KIDScinema, KASKcinemafilmAgendaArtistic activitiesMagic potions and spells, something is brewing in the witch's kitchen.
Cinema for the youngest cinema-goers! Parents and children aged 4 and above are welcome to this screening, where we present a varied and original series of films.
HappyEnd (2024), KASKcinemafilmAgendaArtistic activitiesIn Tokyo in the near future, the threat of a devastating earthquake hangs like a dark cloud over the daily lives of its inhabitants. Two best friends, on the verge of graduating from secondary school, play a prank on their headmaster. What starts innocently enough leads to the installation of an all-seeing surveillance system. Under the pressure of constant surveillance and an increasingly grim political climate, the friends are forced to confront their differences.
After Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus (2023), a film he produced in memory of his father, director Neo Sora makes his fiction debut with this sultry blend of socially critical satire and moving coming-of-age drama. With tender techno beats and observational elegance, he immerses the viewer in a subtly dystopian world that is frighteningly familiar. Torn between conforming or fighting back, the group of friends is forced to question their beliefs, desires and identities.
i.c.w. Japan-Square
Cloquet
Godshuizenlaan 4
9000 Gent
The Stimming Pool (2024), KASKcinemafilmAgendaArtistic activitiesWelcome to The Stimming Pool, a space where neurodivergence can move freely and your body is gently shaken out of its assumptions. The Neurocultures Collective, brought together by artist and filmmaker Steven Eastwood, places neurodivergent creators not as subjects, but as authors at the centre. In this enchanting docufiction, their conversations and creative processes are interwoven into a quasi-fictional structure in which experience and imagination constantly intersect.
Filmed on clear 16mm by Aftersun (2022) cameraman Gregory Oke, a world unfolds that rubs against neurotypical logic. The viewer is immersed in a disorienting experience that makes it possible to feel what it is like to move in an environment that is not designed for you. The film explores how autism shapes creativity and how cinema, like neurodivergent perception, works through heightened sensitivity.
The title refers to “stimming”, the performance of repetitive movements that aid self-regulation. In the film, this is given a physical location: an empty swimming pool where the makers come together to move, dance and unmask themselves. The Stimming Pool thus becomes an invitation to make space for forms of being that too often remain invisible.
The screening will be followed by a Q&A with various members of the Neurocultures Collective.
Cloquet
Godshuizenlaan 4
9000 Gent
Ballad of Tara (1979), KASKcinemafilmAgendaArtistic activitiesTara is a young widow who returns to her village after the death of her grandfather. With a mysterious sabre as her only inheritance, she travels across the country with her two children. During this journey, she meets a mysterious knight from the distant past, who turns out to be searching for the sabre. However, his quest is complicated by his growing feelings for Tara. A melancholic ghost story derived from Iranian folklore, Ballad of Tara is above all a story about patriarchal village life, in which Tara, played by Susan Taslimi, leads a freer and more exciting life than the colourless men who surround her.
Beyzai, one of the founders of the Iranian New Wave of the 1960s, is best known for his work after the Iranian Revolution, such as Bashu, the Little Stranger (1989). Yet his little-seen work from before 1979 is actually even more remarkable for its outspoken feminism and daring aesthetics, with the anachronistic love story of Ballad of Tara as the finest example.
The film will be introduced by translator-interpreter and film curator Mahdieh Fahimi.
i.c.w. Film-Plateau
Cloquet
Godshuizenlaan 4
9000 Gent
Olivia and the Clouds (2024), KASKcinemafilmAgendaArtistic activitiesSome loves do not disappear. They hide. Under a bed, for example, where they breathe softly between dust and memory. In this colourful collage film, Olivia gives flowers to the spirit of an old lover in exchange for comforting rain clouds.
Other stories swirl around her. Barbara invents fantastic lies to make rejection bearable. Mauricio literally sinks into guilt. Ramón falls in love with a talking houseplant that looks suspiciously like Olivia. The film skilfully plays with the so-called Rashomon effect: one event has multiple versions, all of which are contradictory and yet equally credible. In this way, the film circles around itself and shifts perspective as if the characters' feelings themselves were speaking.
The images also refuse to remain still. This experimental debut by Tomás Pichardo Espaillant interweaves stop-motion animation, graphic sketches and claymation into a single whole. Various animators contributed to the film, visualising the collision, merging and disappearance of memories. The end result is a dreamlike collage about longing, loss and the stubborn beauty of lost love.
Cloquet
Godshuizenlaan 4
9000 Gent
The Blood Spattered Bride (1972), KASKcinemafilmAgendaArtistic activitiesOnce again, we are joining forces with cult film festival Offscreen for a film screening that will leave no stone unturned. This time, we accompany them to the altar of Spanish exploitation cinema with La Novia Ensangrentada, a silken nightmare that sinks its teeth into the patriarchal Spain of the 1970s. Susan has just got married and is already deeply unhappy. Strange visions put a damper on her honeymoon, while her husband displays increasingly strange behaviour. When they encounter a mysterious lady on the beach one day, their relationship becomes even more complex. The woman in question turns out to be a vampire who wants to recruit Susan into her order of eternally living lovers. It doesn't take long before the honeymoon turns bloody.
Partly seventies schlock, partly social criticism, The Blood Spattered Bride remains a scandalous film that packs a punch. Made during the rigor mortis of the Franco regime, the film drives a stake through the fascist ideals and normative gender relations of its time. As is customary in vampire mythology, the monstrous here is not merely a threat, but also the promise of transgressive liberation. More conventional monsters are thus shunned in order to explore the horror of the institution of marriage.
This screening will be preceded by the short film The Masque of the Red Death (2024) by Rune Callewaert.
i.c.w. Offscreen
Cloquet
Godshuizenlaan 4
9000 Gent