In the last weekend of September, Shhh returns to Ostend for its seventh edition. The only film festival that declares its love for both silent cinema and the sea, invites visitors once again to watch attentively, listen in silence, and get lost in images that speak without words. For two days, across various locations in the city, the festival opens a space where cinema, oral storytelling traditions, and contemporary artistic practices come together.

Shhh listens. To voices from the past. To stories that travel across time and cultural boundaries. To films that not only want to be seen, but also heard. In silence, the world resonates. And in Ostend, you can hear it speak.

At the heart of this edition is the explicator: the storyteller who, during the earliest decades of cinema, accompanied images- sometimes explaining them, sometimes amplifying them. The explicator was not only a guide, but also a performer, a bridge between the white screen and the audience, a dramaturg of the imagination. In some cases, it was not the film itself that drew crowds, but the reputation of the storyteller – a star with their own style, voice, and following.

This tradition is not a mere anecdote from a distant past; it is part of a long, global practice in which stories are told alongside moving images. From campfires to magical lanterns, from Japanese benshi to Indonesian shadow puppets – around the world, forms emerged where storytelling and imagery went hand in hand, and audiences became part of a living culture of narration. This year, Shhh focuses on that bridge between watching and listening, on the performative power of stories, on the ritual of film as a shared experience.

In this way, Lieve Kleeven weaves her voice and the warm sounds of traditional Indonesian instruments with the compelling stories of her mother. The Indonesian collective Pasirputih Lombok presents a triptych of orally transmitted folktales from the Sasak community of Lombok.

Laterna Magica and Zindzi Tillot revive the magic lantern with a projection and storytelling of The Route of the Overland Mail to India. From Tanzania come DJ Black and Jesse Gerard Mpango: DJ Black accompanies the film Maangamizi with a performative narration, while Jesse Gerard Mpango shares poetic East African stories alongside the film Majini.

And on the beach in Ostend, filmmaker Adriana Vila Guevara invites audiences around a fire, where stories, elements, and bodies merge in a sensory ritual.

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With the support of Vlaamse gemeenschap, Vlaams Audiovisueel Fonds, nw-aalst, KAAP, Projectvierennegentig.

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Individual screenings cost €15 (support rate), 11€ (basic rate), 8€ (reduced rate for students, 65+ and teachers) or 2€ (UiTPAS). A festival pass for all events costs €50 (support rate), 30€ (basic rate), 24€ (reduced rate for students, 65+ and teachers). You can order passes and tickets via KAAP.

You can contact info@monokino.org for more info.

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