INTERNATIONAL INDUSTRIES
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BELGIUM the view from… In the first stop on a global world tour, we chat to Anton Mertens, board member of the Belgian Society of Cinematographers, about the organisation, the region’s filmmaking market and why it’s attracting crews from abroad I t’s going okay here in Belgium,” WORDS KATIE KASPERSON begins Anton Mertens, board member of the Belgian Society of Cinematographers (SBC) – strong connections to France and the Netherlands, Belgium sends many of its folks abroad, but “the English-speaking world is a bit of a new thing,” he explains, helped by projects like In Bruges and The
as a possible country to shoot in and use local crews,” Mertens recounts. “And because our local productions became well known on the international market, people began looking for Belgian DOPs for their own productions. It’s a recent thing.” According to Mertens, the Belgian film industry is comparatively ‘quite young’, due largely to the historical lack of commercial TV in the country. The birth of that, combined with a few successful co-productions, made Belgium’s industry ‘grow exponentially over a very short amount of time’. Projects shooting in Belgium can enjoy the country’s ‘tax sheltering system’, Mertens explains – essentially a tax break for international productions. Another major draw is the country’s advanced facilities, including a water stage – run by LITES Studios – that was built in Brussels. “I’ve done quite a few water stages around the world, and I’ve never seen anything like this,” Mertens admits. “Everything is at the push of a button. You can have waves, mist, rain, anything – and it’s built into the facility.” While In Bruges and The Fifth Estate might’ve kicked off international interest, Belgium has seen its fair share of high- profile productions. Apple TV’s Bad Sisters is a remake of the Belgian show Clan , originally shot by Mertens, while Belgian indie films have been especially
but this is perhaps an understatement. A small country with a now-booming production industry, Belgium has plenty of homegrown talent to go around. “There are lots of DOPs here, myself included,” says Mertens. With
Fifth Estate . ON THE UP
About ten years ago, “English and US productions started to discover Belgium
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