L'Âge d’Or Festival seeks to reconnect with the spirit of research, audacity and adventure of a mythical manifestation of the Royal Belgian Cinematheque, the EXPRMNTL festival (1949-1975), in which the first three L'Âge d’Or prizes were awarded. Designed by Jacques Ledoux, the festival was created to support the poetic and subversive films which, echoing L'Âge d’Or, Buñuel's 1930 film that broke with both cinematic and societal conformism.

From 6 to 11 October 2016, the third edition of L'Age d'Or Festival will be held in the CINEMATEK with Joana Hadjithomas, Peter Gidal, Shai Heredia, Mark Toscano and numerous guests. This year's programme includes retrospectives of Bruce Baillie, Chick Strand and other filmmakers from the West Coast, a selecion of Asian experimental cinema and the premiere of Brecht Debackere's documentry film EXPRMNTL.

A screening of four films by Peter Gidal to celebrate the publication of “Flare Out: Aesthetics 1966–2016”, a collection of his essays on film, art and aesthetics. Gidal was a central figure during the formative years of the London Film-Makers’ Co-op and made some its most radical works. His cinema is anti-narrative, against representation and fiercely materialist, and his writings are similarly polemical and unique. This programme of films from the 1960s to the present includes his most recent work, and will be introduced by Mark Webber and Peter Gidal.