Cinema of Belgium
Cinema of Belgium | |
---|---|
Produced feature films (2009)[3] | |
Fictional | 36 (76.6%) |
Animated | 4 (8.5%) |
Documentary | 7 (14.9%) |
Number of admissions (2010)[5] | |
Total | 21,230,379 |
• Per capita | 1.97 (2012)[4] |
National films | 2,050,604 (9.7%) |
Gross box office (2010)[5] | |
Total | €145 million |
National films | €13.5 million (9.4%) |
Cinema of Belgium refers to the
History
Early history
While the invention of the
The first public projection in Belgium took place on 1 March 1896 at the Kings Gallery in Brussels. In the following years there was a surge in activity, initially dominated by the French industrial Charles Pathé. One of his assistants, Alfred Machin founded the first production studio in 1910; some of his films are still preserved in the Royal Filmarchive in Brussels. The first Belgian movie producer was Hippolyte De Kempeneer, who produced several interesting films until his studio burned down in 1923.
1930 - 1980
The 1930s however saw the first serious attempt at cinema. Several prominent figures such as Charles Dekeukeleire and Henri Storck experimented with new filming techniques and founded the Belgian Documentary School, which was long regarded as one of the highlights of Belgian Cinema. With the advent of sound, directors such as Jan Vanderheyden fully explored the possibilities of the medium, adapting popular literary works such as De Witte of Ernest Claes. De Witte proved to be a pivotal work in the history of Belgian Cinema. The film was a tremendous popular success and would spawn a future remake and a TV series that was widely acclaimed in its own right.
While attempts to produce a serious feature-length film were frequently met with difficulty, Belgian
In 1975 the filmmaker
From 1964 on, film could be subsidized by the government, making way for a new generation of filmmakers such as André Delvaux (De Man Die Zijn Haar Kort Liet Knippen, after Johan Daisne's novel), Roland Verhavert (Pallieter, after Felix Timmermans's novel) and Harry Kümel.[7]
1980 - 2000
The 1980s however saw a break with the tradition of the 60s and 70s, which was increasingly perceived as too stagy or otherwise preoccupied with rural dramas, giving rise to more personal and gritty filmmaking, led by people such as
Belgian cinema finally took flight during the 1990s, gaining international prominence with such films as .
Present
Classic literary works continue to be adapted, in particular the work of Willem Elsschot, and often in coproduction with Dutch film companies.
Adaptations of new literary works are also frequent.
Belgium also annually hosts several film festivals, the most important of which are the
Belgian films
- De Witte (1934)
- The Music Teacher (1988)
- Home Sweet Home (1973)
- Le Choix(1976)
- Toto le Héros(Toto the hero) (1991)
- Man Bites Dog (1992)
- Daens (1993)
- Farinelli (1994)
- Le Huitième Jour(The Eighth Day) (1996)
- Camping Cosmos (1996)
- Rosetta (1999)
- Everybody's Famous! (2000)
- Pauline and Paulette (2001)
- The Alzheimer Case (2003)
- Steve + Sky (2004)
- L'Enfant (2005)
- Ben X (2007)
- Small Gods (2007)
- Loft (2008)
- The Misfortunates (2009)
- Dirty Mind (2009)
- Mr. Nobody (2009)
- Luke and Lucy: The Texas Rangers (2009)
- Bo (2010)
- Oxygen (2010)
- Bullhead (2011)
- The Broken Circle Breakdown (2012)
- Two Days, One Night (2014)
- Los Flamencos (2014)
- N - The Madness of Reason(2013)
- The Brand New Testament (2015)
- Laundry Man (2016)
Notable people
Directors
- Pascal Adant
- Chantal Akerman
- Yaël André
- Jean-Jacques Andrien
- Lucas Belvaux
- Edmond Bernhard
- Jean-Marie Buchet
- Jan Bucquoy
- Frans Buyens
- Stijn Coninx
- Robbe De Hert
- Eric de Kuyper
- Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
- Lieven Debrauwer
- Charles Dekeukeleire
- André Delvaux
- Paul Demeyer
- Dominique Deruddere
- Marc Didden
- Frederik Du Chau
- Hugo Claus
- Anna Frijters
- Noël Godin
- Marion Hänsel
- Patric Jean
- Yasmine Kassari
- Peter Krüger
- Harry Kümel
- Joachim Lafosse
- Benoît Lamy
- Bouli Lanners
- Boris Lehman
- Roland Lethem
- Daniel Maze
- Ernst Moerman
- Koen Mortier
- Picha
- Maurice Rabinowicz
- Raoul Servais
- Olivier Smolders
- Ben Stassen
- Henri Storck
- Samy Szlingerbaum
- Boris Szulzinger
- Henri d'Ursel
- Patrick Van Antwerpen
- Jan Vanderheyden
- Jaco Van Dormael
- Felix Van Groeningen
- Erik Van Looy
- Roland Verhavert
- Jan Verheyen
- Julien Vrebos
- Thierry Zéno
- Fien Troch
- Hans Herbots
- Daniel Lambo
Actors and actresses
- Matthias Schoenaerts
- Jean-Claude Van Damme
- Jérémie Renier
- Annie Cordy
- Antje De Boeck
- Koen De Bouw
- Jan Decleir
- Jacques Brel
- Cécile de France
- Josse De Pauw
- Émilie Dequenne
- Ann Petersen
- Dora Van Der Groen
- Stéphane de Groodt
- Benoît Poelvoorde
- François Damiens
- Alexandra Vandernoot
- Natacha Régnier
- Déborah François
See also
- Cinema of the world
References
- ^ a b "Table 8: Cinema Infrastructure - Capacity". UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Archived from the original on 24 December 2018. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
- ^ "Table 6: Share of Top 3 distributors (Excel)". UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Archived from the original on 16 September 2013. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
- ^ "Table 1: Feature Film Production - Genre/Method of Shooting". UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Archived from the original on 24 December 2018. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
- ^ "Country Profiles". Europa Cinemas. Archived from the original on 9 November 2013. Retrieved 9 November 2013.
- ^ a b "Table 11: Exhibition - Admissions & Gross Box Office (GBO)". UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Archived from the original on 25 December 2018. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
- ^ "BBC - Homepage". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 2023-06-23.
- ^ De constructie van een nationale cinema. UGent.
Bibliography
Mathijs, Ernest (ed.), The cinema of the Low Countries, Wallflower Press, London, 2004.
Mosley, Philip, Split screen: Belgian cinema and cultural identity, State University of New York Press, Albany, 2001.
External links
- (in Dutch) Flanders Image- a website dedicated to the Flemish film industry
- (in French) cinergie.be- a website dedicated to the Belgian film industry
- (in French) Égérie - a website dedicated to the Belgian film industry in French