You can imagine, then, the cheers that are going up this year, as the clouds become greyer and the air gets chillier. So after you watch the arrival of the cast of the new Flemish film, Adem (Oxygen), which opens the festival on 3 September, you may not regret having to duck inside to catch the movie, the premiere feature from Hans Van Nuffel.

Adem (pictured) is the story of a Flemish adolescent with cystic fibrosis who spends most of his time in hospitals. He befriends a man with the same disease, and eventually it turns out that both of them need a lung transplant. The odds of both of them getting a donor on time are slim. The 28-year-old director himself has a mild form of cystic fibrosis, so he puts his own experiences to good use in the film, which is light on melodrama, heavy on dark humour.

With luck, Van Nuffel might be invited back to Ostend next year for the Flemish Film Awards, which are being given out for the first time this year at the festival. Films released between last August and now are eligible, judged by a jury of directors, actors and producers.

To no one's surprise, De helaasheid der dingen (The Misfortunates) leads the nominations in the nine categories this year with seven, including best director (Felix Van Groeningen), Best Film and Best Lead Actor (Koen De Graeve, the heavy favourite).

Other notable international films are having their Belgian premiere at the festival, including the Cannes Camera d'Or winner Año Bisiesto (Leap Year) by Mexico-based Australian filmmaker Michael Rowe, in which a young woman acts out violent sexual fantasies in anticipation of a very important date: 29 February. You have to wait until the end to find out why.

Another Cannes winner on the bill is French director Xavier Beauvois' Des Hommes et des dieux (Of Gods and Men), bestowed wtih the Grand Jury prize this year for its engrossing portrayal of the monks of Tibhirine, who were kidnapped and beheaded in 1996 during the Algerian Civil War.

On the lighter side, the festival premieres the new 3D animation Despicable Me, in which the ultimate evil villain has a hard time keeping to task in the presence of three cute orphans, and Dinner for Schmucks, one of those rather enjoyable male-bonding comedies, this time pairing the dream team of Paul Rudd and Steve Carell in a remake of the 1998 French film The Dinner Game, in which rich businessmen take turns bringing the biggest idiot they know to dinner.

Ostend also screens television series and hosts video gaming on the big screen, which at least ensures, even if they won't stay for Of Gods and Men, that teenagers will come through the front door.

3-11 September
Kinepolis and other venues
www.filmfestivaloostende.be