The Brussels Film Office, the commission for film shoots in the Brussels Region, will celebrate its ten years on Tuesday, August 25. Since its creation, the number of shoots featuring Brussels has increased regularly. Feature-length films in particular have increased over the past five years, including Le Tout Nouveau Testament (The Brand New Testament). The latest film by Jaco Van Dormael was almost entirely filmed in Brussels.
Brussels Tournage was created in September 2005, the result of an agreement between the Mayor of Brussels and the Brussels Minister for Tourism. As with other European capitals, the film office was the first tool set up by the Brussels Capital Region and the City of Brussels in order to promote Brussels as an attractive international film destination.
Originally housed at the City Hall, Bruxelles Tournage became the Brussels Film Office (BFO) in 2011, and joined visit.brussels at the BIP (Brussels Info Place) buildings, the House of the Capital Region.
Key office
Designed as a meeting point for the authorities of Brussels’ 19 municipalities and productions, the BFO aims to facilitate film shoots, particularly by obtaining filming permits, finding sets, reserving space for technical vehicles, and so on.
On an international level, the office also works to promote Brussels as a filming destination. All of this has brought results, as shown by the economic activity generated in the Brussels region (jobs, sets, transport, material hire, accommodation, catering, etc.). As an example, the audiovisual industry accounts for 8,000 part-time jobs in the Brussels Capital Region. (ULB data)
Today, Brussels enjoys an excellent reputation in terms of audiovisual productions. In addition to the settings and backdrops which Brussels offers, the quality of businesses in the sector, the Regional Bruxellimage/Wallimage Fund (created in 2009) and the advantages linked to the Belgian Tax Shelter also contribute to the attractive image of the Region, bringing more and more visitors.
Key figures
In 2006, one year after it was created, 230 projects had been dealt with. In 2014 no fewer than 800 projects were filed, 400 of which were filming requests needing authorisation. These projects included 111 TV programmes, 71 TV ads and 31 feature-length films which were filmed in the Brussels Capital Region, 65% of those in the City of Brussels.
According to these figures, the number of filming days doubled in the past five years, almost reaching 400 in 2014.
2015, another excellent year
So far 2015 looks to exceed 2014 figures. And it will be as part of the Brussels preview of Le Tout Nouveau Testament that the 10th anniversary will be celebrated on Tuesday 25 August in the prestigious Hôtel Métropole, a key character in Brussels cinema.
