A record €41.6 million was invested in Belgium's francophone cinema sector last year, compared to the €35.33 million provided in 2021, said the Cinema and Audiovisual Centre (CCA), which sponsors the creation and distribution of movies by the Wallonia-Brussels Federation.
In total, films (co)funded by the country's francophone cinema sector were selected for more than 1,550 festivals and won nearly 330 awards in 2022, including a triple win and a historic prize for Belgium at Cannes.
The Wallonia-Brussels Federation has contributed more than €22.8 million to the budget of the CCA in 2022 – 11% more than in 2021. An additional €18.8 million was directly invested by service publishers and distributors.
There was a sharp increase in the contributions from service publishers and distributors, which went up from €11.8 in 2021 to €18.8 million. “This significant increase is due to the participation of external publishers (Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Google, Disney among others, but also TF1 and Canal+) who contributed to movie production for the first time in 2022,” explained the Centre for Cinema and Audiovisual.
Surge in moviegoers
Another record last year was the Film Commission's €12.13 million in pledges of aid. This was made possible by the decision of Francophone Media and Culture Minister Bénédicte Linard to dedicate an additional €1 million in the 2022 budget adjustment to funding aid for the arts.
“Out of the 597 projects examined, 186 promises of aid were granted, i.e. a selection rate of 31% out of all applications,” explained the CCA. This is also an increase from the 26% rate of selection for aid in 2021.
The aid went towards the writing of 29 feature-length fiction films, the development of 14 films and the production of 32. Financial support was also awarded to 31 short fiction films, 63 documentaries, 12 experimental films and five feature films made under light production conditions.
€3.82 million was invested by the FWB and RTBF in Belgian series productions in 2022. Six series projects were assisted in writing, six in development and one in production, while the FWB-RTBF Fund for series will open in 2023 to new broadcasters.
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Moviegoing also surged last year by 84%. The attendance of French-speaking Belgian-initiated films supported by the CCA, naturally increased after the cinemas were closed for much of 2021, but it was also up 43% compared to 2019.
“Tori and Lokita” by the Dardenne brothers, “Nobody has to know” by Bouli Lanners and “Yuku and the Flower of the Himalayas” by Arnaud Demuynck and Rémi Durin were in the top three most attended.
In 2022, the Grand Prix of the Cannes Festival was awarded ex aequo to “Close” by Belgian director Lukas Dhont and “Stars At Noon” by French director Claire Denis. The Special Prize for the 75th edition of the Cannes Festival was awarded to Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne for “Tori and Lokita."
As for the film “The Eight Mountains” by Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch, it had obtained, ex aequo with “EO” by the Pole Jerzy Skolimowski,” the Jury Prize.
