10/06/2010

Unusually, Cinergie is for once focusing on its Flemish neighbours through an interview with the head of the Vlaams Audiovisual Fund. Pierre Drouot, “the one-man band of Belgian cinema”, started out by making his own films, before turning to teaching and production (of films by André Delvaux, Benoît Lamy, Raoul Servais, as well as Toto the Hero). After a sweet-scented career break in Provence, he returned home and took over the reins of the VAF in 2005.

With a current budget of €16.85m, the VAF has since 2002 been a non-governmental not-for-profit organisation, whose decisions are ratified by its own board of directors. It backs the production of eight features per year (€550-650,000) with its budget, and in good years manages to support four more thanks to the repayment of advances on receipts. Each genre has its own committee, including a FilmLab committee, which deals with the “chaos zone” essential for innovation.

Over the past few years, the VAF has set itself the task of promoting Flemish films abroad. This approach seems to be paying dividends, for the biggest festival of all, Cannes, has put the spotlight on Flemish films over the last three years. The event screened Moscow, Belgium [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] in 2008, Altiplano [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Lost Persons Area and The Misfortunates [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Felix van Groeningen
film profile] [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] in 2009, and Little Baby Jesus of Flanders this year.

With regard to the domestic success of Flemish films, Drouot talks of the “communicative” nature of Flemish works, their ability to “look people in the eyes”. He also explains the difference with Francophone films by emphasising the importance of regional identification through language.

Over the coming years, two areas need to be developed. The first is education, the keystone of the system, where “the connection with audiovisual is not exploited enough”. Drouot also calls for a more comprehensive strategy of support for the audiovisual sector, a film centre co-financed by several ministries, just like in Denmark, where the Danish Film Institute incorporates innovation, education, culture and employment…

(Translated from French)