After an early education in electro-mechanics, Kristof Hoornaert (1980, West-Flanders, Belgium) eventually chose to study Audiovisual Arts in Ghent and Brussels. In 1999, he graduated with the short documentary "A horse that dies".

From 2001 till 2005 he wrote 3 screenplays for feature films: "The earth is calm", "Resurrection" & "Battle with the Devil". Each screenplay is firmly rooted in the region of West-Flanders and is a deep exploration of our human condition.

In 2005, the first feature screenplay "The earth is calm" received writing support from the Flanders Film Fund. In the meantime he worked as a freelance director on several corporate films, publicity and commercials for various companies such as Nespresso, Alcatel, Deloitte, Mobistar, JBC, Telenet, Coca-Cola, Nutricia (Olvarit), Siemens, Luminus, Promedia, Gouden Gids, Truvo, Fortis,...

End 2007 he received production support from the Flanders Film Fund for making a first short film "KAÏN", produced by Minds Meet (Lost Persons Area, Little Baby Jesus of Flandr, Blue Bird,...).


"KAÏN" premiered in the official competition of the 59th Berlin International Film Festival, where it got nominated for the Golden Bear.

Furthermore the film won several awards worldwide and was internationally acclaimed at film festivals in Bangkok, St. Petersburg, Damascus, Jakarta, New Delhi, Singapore, Ljubljana, Uruguay, Istanbul, Yerevan, Manlleu, Torun, Rome, Patras City, London,... and many more.

In 2009 he received financial support from the Flanders Film Fund to develop a first feature film called "Resurrection", produced by Minds Meet.

Meanwhile he also worked as an editor on the short film "NUCLEAR WASTE" by Ukrainian filmmaker Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy, which premiered in the official competition of the 65th Locarno International Film Festival, where it won the Silver Leopard.

Nowadays he is finishing the work on his second short film "THE FALL" and preparing the work on his third short film "EMPIRE" which ends his short film trilogy on cruelty and civilization.