Bénédicte Linard, the Wallonia-Brussels Federation’s Minister of Culture and the Media, has announced her decision to allocate an additional €1 million to reinforce the means of the Cinema Commission, in charge of giving selective and cultural support to cinematic projects. It is worth mentioning that, at the last statement from the Centre du Cinéma et de l’Audiovisuel, the sector had shared its fears regarding the generalised decrease in production abilities in French-speaking Belgium.  

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The awards gathered last week at the Cannes Film Festival, both for historical figures of Belgian cinema (the Dardenne brothers, winners of the 75th Anniversary Prize for Tori and Lokita [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Joely Mbundu
intervista: Luc e Jean-Pierre Dardenne
scheda film]) and for the new generation of filmmakers (Emmanuelle Nicot, awarded three times for Love according to Dalva [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Emmanuelle Nicot
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intervista: Eden Dambrine
intervista: Lukas Dhont
intervista: Lukas Dhont
scheda film], which was supported by the Cinema Commission) confirm the fact that creativity and talent are not in any way lacking, even as the means necessary to let them flourish are not always available. 

As is the case everywhere in Europe, the audiovisual sector has suffered from the impact of the pandemic — production aids had in fact been increased by 20% to account for additional costs — but also from what was left in its wake. A structural raise worth €400,000 had already been decided last year, with this exceptional addition of €1 million now coming on top of that. 

In 2021, 660 projects were evaluated (644 in 2020, + 2,5 %) by the Cinema Commission, with 174 projects ultimately backed (165 in 2020, + 5,5 %), with a selection rate of 26,4 % (25,6 % in 2020), which is pretty good compared to those applied in neighbouring countries. The Cinema Commission attributed €11,24 million of aid in 2021, including 1,374 in additional COVID measures. This additional million therefore represents a little under one tenth of the usual budget, which should allow a certain number of additional projects to emerge.

It is worth noting that, last year, the contribution from the Centre du Cinéma to the financing of majority French-speaking Belgian films was 30 %, behind that of the Tax shelter (37 %).

The total sum of budgetary means made available to the sector in 2021 was €35,33 million (€34,30 million in 2020): €23,49 million brought directly by the Wallonia-Brussels Federation and €11,84 million directly invested by editors and service distributors.