Film & TV column: the BENELUX partnership

By Anders Lorenzen

The autumn column will give a flavour of the recently recognised films from Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, and take a look at the diversity of film production in the region.

Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg have produced worldwide-recognised films, historically and recently.

The Belgian movie Young Mothers (Les Jeunes mères), directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, a household Belgian duo also known as the Dardenne brothers, tackled social realism and won best screenplay at the Cannes film festival this year. It was also Belgium’s entry for the Academy Awards.

The Dutch film director Jan-Willem van Ewijk’s 2024 adventure drama film, Alpha, premiered at a side event to the 2024 Venice International Film Festival.

And the co-production Reflection in a Dead Diamond – between Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy and France – is an action/mystery thriller that competed for the Golden Bear at this year’s Berlin film festival, showing that collaboration is not new to the Benelux countries.

Young Mothers (Les Jeunes mères). Photos: © Christine Plenus

Strengthening collaboration efforts in the region

In May this year, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg formed the BENELUX co-development grant to open new doors to co-productions. The four national film funds – the Flemish Audiovisual Fund, the Centre du Cinéma et de l’Audiovisuel in Wallonia-Brussels, the Netherlands Film Fund, and the Film Fund Luxembourg – want to focus on more sustainable collaborations for producing high-quality feature films.

It is anticipated that this could position the region as a co-production European landscape. The partners would promote and seek out the best and most natural co-production structure and financing strategy.

While the countries are different, they do have cultural similarities, and it is hoped that talented filmmakers can collaborate to create compelling narratives and take advantage of the high-quality film infrastructure available.

Young Mothers (Les Jeunes mères). Photos: © Christine Plenus

The collaboration partnership started in earnest in 2024, and the hope is that this new grant will help create the presence of brand BENELUX across film festivals and film markets, and enhance and promote filmmakers and productions from the region. Additionally, it should provide easier access for mutual co-productions, facilitate a network of directors, writers, actors, and crew from the three countries, and connect a pool of resources across finance, talent, and knowledge.

The Nordic countries are well known for their broad collaboration on film and serial productions. The ambition for the BENELUX initiative is to create a brand that will compete with the Scan Noir brand. They certainly have strong material and talent, with several international, highly rated releases, including many on popular global streaming platforms such as Netflix. Hopefully, this new initiative will propel the exposure of the Benelux region to new highs.