12 - Cinema Made in Liège: A ‘Hub’ of Francophone Belgian Filmmaking
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 May 2021
Summary
In an interview with Philippe Reynaert, the head of Wallimage, stated in an interview that ‘Brussels has always been the centre [of film production], but in recent years, an impetus in Walloon filmmaking has been imposed on Liège, the homeland of the Dardenne brothers, like a real Pôle de l’Image’ (Reynaert 2011). Although Reynaert's comment was ludic in tone, it highlighted the emerging tendency for filmmaking in Wallonia to coalesce around the city of Liège. In Sight and Sound, Goodfellow first recognised the emergence of Liège as an important filmmaking centre in Belgium and Wallonia, signposting the work of the Dardenne brothers, Thierry Michel, and Benedicte Lienard's Une part du ciel/A Piece of Sky (2002, Belgium/Luxembourg/France) (2003: 26). This article, however, foreshadowed the development of economic incentives and film production facilities that have since encouraged film projects to the city, with the creation of the regional film fund Wallimage in 2001, the Tax Shelter in 2003 (revised in 2014) and Pôle Image de Liège (PIL) in 2006. It is important to note that the discourse adopted in the aforementioned film institutions and fund accounts, summaries and initiatives is not confined to the film sector, instead being inclusive of the audiovisual sector and increasing moves towards ‘trans-media’. Against this backdrop of favourable financial conditions for feature filmmaking, Liège has been given the moniker ‘Hollywood-sur-Meuse’ (Gillet 2010). The 2014 Cannes film festival proved a key point for the visibility and valorisation of film production in Liège with five films, Deux jours, Une nuit/Two Days, One Night (Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, 2014, Belgium/France/Italy), Grace of Monaco (Olivier Dahan, 2014, Switzerland/France/Belgium/ Italy/USA), Jimmy's Hall (Ken Loach, 2014, UK/Ireland/France), Alléluia (Fabrice du Welz, 2014, Belgium/France) and P’tit Quinquin/ Li’l Quinquin (Bruno Dumont, 2014, France), selected for screening. This cross-section of films neatly epitomises current trends in Liégeois filmmaking with regional and ‘national’ films operating seamlessly alongside international co-productions. Moreover, the Dardenne brothers remain a significant feature in the city's filmmaking heritage – in part a shorthand for Liègeois filmmaking – from a nascent period in the 1970s through to the current ‘economic’ turn.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Cinema-mondeDecentred Perspectives on Global Filmmaking in French, pp. 257 - 281Publisher: Edinburgh University PressPrint publication year: 2018