Belgian Films Put on a Show of Force at Festivals as Global Co-Productions Increase
variety.comBen Croll French-speaking Belgium hit a high-water mark at the Cannes Film Festival in May, with 11 Belgian co-productions claiming accolades and acclaim across the Croisette.
Alongside Critics’ Week opener “Ghost Trail” and the Cannes jury and best actress prize-winner “Emilia Pérez,” eight of those co-productions received support from Belgium’s Federation Wallonie-Bruxelles, while just as many shared a proud Francophone voice.
At Venice, industry delegates built on that robust show of force, touting home-grown projects like Fabrice Du Welz’s police thriller “Maldoror” and co-productions like Aude Léa Rapin’s sci-fi drama “Planet B” and Marie Losier’s music doc “Peaches Goes Bananas,” while young producers took to the Lido to forge new partnerships beyond the traditional mold. “We’re trying to diversify as much as possible,” says French-speaking Belgium’s Cinema and Audiovisual Center director Jeanne Brunfaut. “Though we tend to partner with [other Francophone countries], we want to encourage our producers to look further afield, to see what’s happening in Latin America and Scandinavia in order to build lasting partnerships and to broaden their field of action.” And so delegates from Francophone Belgium and Luxembourg shared the spotlight at this year’s Venice Production Bridge for a joint industry focus titled “The Center of Attraction.” The Belgian contingent placed a particular accent on industry potential, welcoming 10 emerging and established producers — among them the outfits behind recent Cannes prizewinners “The Damned” and “Annette,” alongside leading figures in animation and documentary films — in order to flex a wider range of muscle from Brussels.
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