Given the current global health situation, the Wallonia-Brussels Federation’s Film and Audiovisual Centre (CCA) was obliged to publish an online review of the year 2019 last Friday. While the number of projects supported increased slightly, attendance levels for French-language Belgian films in both France and Belgium clearly plummeted.

It should be said that 2018 turned out to be an excellent year in terms of box-office takings, thanks in particular to two top performers that largely plumped up the results: Mon Ket [+lee también:
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entrevista: François Damiens
ficha de la película], the feature debut by François Damiens, and So Help Me God [+lee también:
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entrevista: Jean Libon y Yves Hinant
ficha de la película], the documentary by Jean Libon and Yves Hinant, which is the big-screen version of the TV series Strip Tease. However, as mentioned above, attendance levels were down by 39% compared to 2018. If we consider the total number of admissions in Belgium and France, the standout film of 2019 was the programme of animated short films Loups tendres et loufoques (with 233,000 tickets sold). It was followed by Young Ahmed [+lee también:
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entrevista: Jean-Pierre et Luc Dardenne
ficha de la película] by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (185,000 admissions) and another programme of animated shorts: Les ritournelles de la chouette (72,000 tickets sold).

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In Belgium, Young Ahmed was the leader of the pack, with more than 33,000 admissions, followed by Mothers’ Instinct [+lee también:
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entrevista: Olivier Masset-Depasse
ficha de la película] by Olivier Masset-Depasse (nearly 25,000 admissions) and the aforementioned Loups tendres et loufoques with 13,500 entrées, while Keep Going [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Joachim Lafosse and The Benefit of the Doubt [+lee también:
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entrevista: Samuel Tilman
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On the production side, in 2019, the CCA granted 141 guarantees of support (as against 130 in 2018), but only for a total budget of €9.49 million (versus €9.86 million in 2018). Twenty-one fiction features received writing support, four development aid, and 24 production support, including both majority and minority productions. They include the upcoming films by Fabrice du Welz (Inexorable [+lee también:
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entrevista: Fabrice Du Welz
ficha de la película], the shoot for which has had to be postponed after having originally been scheduled for the spring), The Restless [+lee también:
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entrevista: Joachim Lafosse
ficha de la película] by Joachim Lafosse, filming for which is (or was?) slated to happen in summer 2020, and Les Tortues [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by David Lambert. The Film and Audiovisual Centre has already announced that it is extending the expiration date of its support in light of the current circumstances.