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PRODUCERS ON THE MOVE 2019

Hendrik Verthé • Producer, A Team Productions

"The advantage of producing in Flanders is the freedom for creative teams"

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- Belgian producer Hendrik Verthé, founder of A Team Productions, talks about his approach to film production ahead of the 2019 Producers on the Move events

Hendrik Verthé • Producer, A Team Productions

Hendrik Verthé founded A Team Productions together with Kobe Van Steenberghe in 2009, and has produced short films, documentaries and feature films with a focus on reaching wide audiences. His latest productions include co-directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah's Black [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fal…
interview: Martha Canga Antonio
film profile
]
(2016) and Gangsta [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fal…
interview: Matteo Simoni
film profile
]
(2018) and Sven Huybrecht's U-235 (2019). Hendrik is now working with Sahim Omar Kalifa on developing the feature Baghdad Messi [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sahim Omar Kalifa
film profile
]
. Verthé has been selected as one of the 2019 Producers on the Move by European Film Promotion.

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European Film Promotion: Which is the film you are most proud of and why?
Hendrik Verthé:
That's a difficult question as I've worked passionately on all our movies to make it into the best movie we could. From Image [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, our first no-budget feature film, to Black (Discovery Award at Toronto Film Festival) to Gangsta, the box-office hit of 2018 in Belgium and the Netherlands, I'm proud of the work we did with the whole team. This fall we release the full-blown action adventure submarine movie U-235 (Torpedo) and the zombie comedy Yummy

What are the challenges and merits of producing in your country?
The big challenge is of course to reach further than Flanders with Dutch-spoken content. The advantage of producing in Flanders are the talented and flexible crews and - which cannot be emphasized enough - the freedom that creative teams receive in Flanders by the local funds to develop and produce diversified content.

What are your expectations in Cannes as one of the Producers on the Move?
I hope to expand of course my professional contacts towards new projects in development and especially to push the international sales on our upcoming releases this fall.

What are your next projects?
The action-packed submarine adventure movie U-235 (Torpedo) has its national release on 23 October. The fun zombie film Yummy has its national release on 18 December. In 2020, the shoot of the new feature film Baghdad Messi is scheduled. Baghad Messi is based on the short film with the same title from 2013, which won 55 international awards and was shortlisted for the Oscars. This new film will be an exciting drama set in the Middle East about the fight of a father to keep his son's dream alive.

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