Those who need whale sounds to fall asleep, or are simply captivated by the sea and its many mysteries, are in for a treat this fall. In October and November the Australian Ocean Film Festival will be taking over Belgian cinemas to screen award-winning shorts set above and below sea level. From an extraordinary kayaking odyssey to a dive into the extraterrestrial deep end, they show the ocean at its most cinematic.

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The vast ocean, its awesome power and its many majestic inhabitants are so inherently cinematic that a lot of independent filmmakers have felt the sea’s pull over the past couple of years and have gladly obliged. Since its birth four years ago, the Australian Film Festival – on a mission to inspire people to ‘respect, enjoy and protect our oceans’ – has selected the cream of the crop of ocean-related shorts to take you on a trip around the globe. Included in their world tour, that drops by New Zealand, Hong Kong, China and the UK,is also tiny Belgium. In Flanders Bruges, Antwerp, Ghent and Leuven will be treated to a night of ocean joy while Namur and Mons are the lucky ones in Wallonia. However, the festival will be making its biggest splash in Brussels, opening its Belgian tour with three days of screenings from October 27th to October 29th.

Each night offers a two-hour extravaganza of award-winning documentaries that feature the ocean as their beating heart. Six short films ranging from anything between five and 43 minutes long will be hitting the silver screen, backed by the overwhelming cinematic force of the sea. Read more ...

Check out the full Belgian tour here.